Git Installation and Configuration

This chapter will detail how to install Git on different operating systems and perform basic configuration, allowing you to quickly start using Git.

Git Installation

Windows System Installation

Method 1: Official Installer

Visit the Git official website
Click "Download for Windows"
Run the installer after downloading
Follow the installation wizard to complete installation

bash

# Verify installation
git --version

Method 2: Using Package Managers

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install git

# Using Scoop
scoop install git

# Using winget
winget install Git.Git

Installation Options Explanation

Adjust PATH environment: Choose "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software"
Choose HTTPS transport backend: Choose "Use the OpenSSL library"
Configure line ending conversion: Choose "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings"
Configure terminal emulator: Choose "Use Windows' default console window"

macOS System Installation

Method 1: Using Homebrew (Recommended)

bash

# Install Homebrew (if not already installed)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Git
brew install git

# Verify installation
git --version

Method 2: Using MacPorts

bash

sudo port install git

Method 3: Official Installer

Visit the Git official website
Download macOS version
Run the .dmg file and follow prompts to install

Method 4: Xcode Command Line Tools

bash

# Install Xcode command line tools (includes Git)
xcode-select --install

Linux System Installation

Ubuntu/Debian System

bash

# Update package list
sudo apt update

# Install Git
sudo apt install git

# Verify installation
git --version

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora System

bash

# CentOS/RHEL 7
sudo yum install git

# CentOS/RHEL 8+ or Fedora
sudo dnf install git

# Verify installation
git --version

Arch Linux

bash

# Install Git
sudo pacman -S git

# Verify installation
git --version

Compile from Source

bash

# Install dependencies
sudo apt install make libssl-dev libghc-zlib-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libreadline-dev autoconf build-essential gettext libtool

# Download source code
wget https://github.com/git/git/archive/v2.40.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf v2.40.0.tar.gz
cd git-2.40.0

# Compile and install
make configure
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make all
sudo make install

# Verify installation
git --version

Git Basic Configuration

User Information Configuration

After installation, you first need to configure user information:

bash

# Configure username
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

# Configure email
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

# View configuration
git config --global user.name
git config --global user.email

Configuration Levels

Git has three configuration levels:

bash

# System-level configuration (all users)
git config --system user.name "System User"

# Global configuration (current user)
git config --global user.name "Global User"

# Repository-level configuration (current repository)
git config --local user.name "Local User"

Priority: local > global > system

Viewing Configuration

bash

# View all configuration
git config --list

# View specific configuration
git config user.name
git config user.email

# View configuration source
git config --list --show-origin

# View global configuration
git config --global --list

# View local configuration
git config --local --list

Editor Configuration

bash

# Set default editor to VS Code
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

# Set to Vim
git config --global core.editor vim

# Set to Nano
git config --global core.editor nano

# Set to Notepad++ (Windows)
git config --global core.editor "'C:/Program Files/Notepad++/notepad++.exe' -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin"

Diff Tool Configuration

bash

# Set diff viewing tool
git config --global diff.tool vimdiff

# Set to VS Code
git config --global diff.tool vscode
git config --global difftool.vscode.cmd 'code --wait --diff $LOCAL $REMOTE'

# Set merge tool
git config --global merge.tool vimdiff

Alias Configuration

Create aliases for commonly used commands:

bash

# Basic aliases
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.st status

# Advanced aliases
git config --global alias.unstage 'reset HEAD --'
git config --global alias.last 'log -1 HEAD'
git config --global alias.visual '!gitk'

# Beautified log
git config --global alias.lg "log --color --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit"

# View aliases
git config --get-regexp alias

Line Ending Configuration

bash

# Windows system recommended configuration
git config --global core.autocrlf true

# macOS/Linux system recommended configuration
git config --global core.autocrlf input

# Disable automatic conversion
git config --global core.autocrlf false

# Set safety check
git config --global core.safecrlf true

Color Configuration

bash

# Enable color output
git config --global color.ui auto

# Specific configuration
git config --global color.branch auto
git config --global color.diff auto
git config --global color.status auto

# Custom colors
git config --global color.diff.meta "blue black bold"

Push Configuration

bash

# Set push strategy (recommended)
git config --global push.default simple

# Other push strategies
git config --global push.default current    # Push current branch to remote branch with same name
git config --global push.default upstream   # Push to upstream branch
git config --global push.default matching   # Push all matching branches

Credential Configuration

bash

# Windows credential manager
git config --global credential.helper manager-core

# macOS keychain
git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain

# Linux cache credentials
git config --global credential.helper cache

# Set cache time (seconds)
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600'

SSH Key Configuration

Generating SSH Keys

bash

# Generate new SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"

# If system doesn't support ed25519, use RSA
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your.email@example.com"

# Start SSH agent
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

# Add key to SSH agent
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Configuring SSH Keys

bash

# View public key content
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# Copy public key to clipboard (macOS)
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# Copy public key to clipboard (Linux)
xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# Copy public key to clipboard (Windows Git Bash)
clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Testing SSH Connection

bash

# Test GitHub connection
ssh -T git@github.com

# Test GitLab connection
ssh -T git@gitlab.com

# Test Bitbucket connection
ssh -T git@bitbucket.org

Configuration File Locations

Configuration File Paths

bash

# System-level configuration file
# Windows: C:\Program Files\Git\etc\gitconfig
# macOS/Linux: /etc/gitconfig

# Global configuration file
# Windows: C:\Users\<username>\.gitconfig
# macOS/Linux: ~/.gitconfig

# Repository-level configuration file
# Project root directory/.git/config

Editing Configuration Files Directly

bash

# Edit global configuration file
git config --global --edit

# Edit local configuration file
git config --edit

Example .gitconfig file:

ini

[user]
    name = Zhang San
    email = zhangsan@example.com

[core]
    editor = code --wait
    autocrlf = true
    safecrlf = true

[color]
    ui = auto

[alias]
    co = checkout
    br = branch
    ci = commit
    st = status
    lg = log --color --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit

[push]
    default = simple

[credential]
    helper = manager-core

[diff]
    tool = vscode

[difftool "vscode"]
    cmd = code --wait --diff $LOCAL $REMOTE

[merge]
    tool = vscode

[mergetool "vscode"]
    cmd = code --wait $MERGED

Proxy Configuration

HTTP/HTTPS Proxy

bash

# Set HTTP proxy
git config --global http.proxy http://proxy.company.com:8080

# Set HTTPS proxy
git config --global https.proxy https://proxy.company.com:8080

# Set SOCKS proxy
git config --global http.proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:1080

# Remove proxy settings
git config --global --unset http.proxy
git config --global --unset https.proxy

Domain-Specific Proxy

bash

# Set proxy for GitHub
git config --global http.https://github.com.proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:1080

# Remove specific domain proxy
git config --global --unset http.https://github.com.proxy

Common Configuration Issues

Issue 1: Chinese Filename Display

bash

# Fix issue where Chinese filenames display as numbers
git config --global core.quotepath false

Issue 2: Line Ending Issues

bash

# View current settings
git config core.autocrlf

# Windows user settings
git config --global core.autocrlf true

# macOS/Linux user settings
git config --global core.autocrlf input

Issue 3: Case Sensitivity

bash

# Set case sensitivity (default false)
git config --global core.ignorecase false

Issue 4: File Permission Issues

bash

# Ignore file permission changes
git config --global core.filemode false

Verification Configuration

Create a test script to verify configuration:

bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Git Configuration Verification ==="
echo "Git version: $(git --version)"
echo "Username: $(git config user.name)"
echo "Email: $(git config user.email)"
echo "Editor: $(git config core.editor)"
echo "Line ending handling: $(git config core.autocrlf)"
echo "Color output: $(git config color.ui)"
echo "Push strategy: $(git config push.default)"
echo ""
echo "=== SSH Key Test ==="
if [ -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub ]; then
    echo "SSH key exists: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub"
else
    echo "SSH key does not exist, please generate a key"
fi
echo ""
echo "=== Alias Configuration ==="
git config --get-regexp alias

Summary

Proper Git installation and configuration is the foundation for efficient Git usage:

Installation Key Points

✅ Choose installation method suitable for your operating system
✅ Verify that installation was successful
✅ Understand meaning of different installation options

Configuration Key Points

✅ Set username and email (required)
✅ Configure appropriate editor
✅ Set line ending handling strategy
✅ Create useful aliases
✅ Configure SSH keys

Best Practices

🔧 Use global configuration for general options
🔧 Set specific local configurations for different projects
🔧 Regularly backup configuration files
🔧 Understand configuration priority

After completing configuration, you can start using Git for version control. In the next chapter, we will learn Git's quick start guide.

Git Installation and Configuration ​