Git Installation and Configuration

This chapter will guide you through installing Git on different operating systems and performing basic configurations to get ready for learning.

Git Installation

Windows Installation

Method 1: Official Installer (Recommended)

1. Download Installer

   • Visit Git Official Website
   • Download the version suitable for your system (32-bit or 64-bit)

2. Installation Steps

   1. Double-click the downloaded .exe file
   2. Select installation path (default recommended)
   3. Select components (default recommended)
   4. Select Start Menu folder
   5. Choose default editor (VS Code or Notepad++ recommended)
   6. Adjust PATH environment (Select "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software")
   7. Choose HTTPS transport backend (Use default OpenSSL)
   8. Configure line ending conversions (Select "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings")
   9. Configure terminal emulator (Select "Use MinTTY")
   10. Configure extra options (Keep defaults)
   11. Finish installation

3. Verify Installation

   # Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
   git --version

Method 2: Package Managers

# Using Chocolatey
choco install git

# Using Scoop
scoop install git

# Using Winget
winget install Git.Git

macOS Installation

Method 1: Homebrew (Recommended)

# Install Homebrew (if not 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: Official Installer

1. Visit Git Official Website
2. Download the .dmg file
3. Double-click the package and follow instructions

Method 3: Xcode Command Line Tools

# Install Xcode Command Line Tools (includes Git)
xcode-select --install

Linux Installation

Ubuntu/Debian

# Update package list
sudo apt update

# Install Git
sudo apt install git

# Verify installation
git --version

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

# CentOS/RHEL 7
sudo yum install git

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

# Verify installation
git --version

Arch Linux

# Install Git
sudo pacman -S git

# Verify installation
git --version

Compiling from Source (All Linux Distributions)

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

# Download source
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

Basic Configuration

After installation, some basic configurations are needed to use Git normally.

Configure User Information

This is mandatory before using Git, as every commit uses this information:

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

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

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

Notes:

• Username can be in English or other languages.
• Email should be a real email, especially if you want to match it with GitHub, etc.
• --global means this configuration applies to all repositories on your system.

Configure Default Editor

Git needs to open an editor for certain operations. You can configure your favorite one:

# Configure VS Code as default editor
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

# Configure Vim as default editor
git config --global core.editor vim

# Configure Nano as default editor
git config --global core.editor nano

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

Configure Line Ending Handling

Different operating systems use different characters for line endings. Git can handle this automatically:

# Recommended for Windows
git config --global core.autocrlf true

# Recommended for macOS/Linux
git config --global core.autocrlf input

# If the team uses the same system, you can turn off auto conversion
git config --global core.autocrlf false

Configure Default Branch Name

Since Git 2.28, you can configure the default branch name:

# Set default branch name to main
git config --global init.defaultBranch main