Installation

Choose the instructions based on your computer

Install Git on Windows

Please note: You may need administrator's rights to install the Git software. If you do not have Administrator's rights, please contact your computer support team.

Update: we have a screencast (without audio, but with notes) of installing git on a PC.

  1. Navigate to http://git-scm.com/
  2. The webpage will auto-detect what operating system you are using on your machine and provide you with the download for that OS. Look for the computer screen on the right-hand side of the page. Click on Downloads for Windows. Your computer should automatically launch an explorer window and ask you where to save the program on your computer.
  3. On your computer, navigate to where you want to save the Git program .exe file and double-click on the file. This should launch the installer.
    You may receive a security warning about the software being from an unknown publisher. You can safely ignore this message. Click the Run button to continue or cancel to exit out of the installation.
  4. The Welcome to the Git Setup Window window will appear. Begin installation by clicking Next.
  5. Click Next to accept the terms of the license.
  6. Next, choose where Git will be installed. Click Next to choose the default location provided unless you know you need to install the software somewhere else on your machine.
  7. Next, select the components you want installed along with the Git software. There are already some default options checked. Other options that you might want to check include:
    • Windows Explorer integration, including Git Bash Here and Git GUI Here. This component will allow you to use the Windows Explorer context menu to access git Bash and Git Gui.
    • All other components are optional.
  8. Next, Select your Start menu Folder. Choose Next to use the default.
  9. Next you need to choose how you would like to use Git from the command line. Choose the second option "Run git from the Windows Command Prompt". This will allow you to use Git Bash and the Standard Windows prompt. Do not choose the third option as choosing this option may change settings on your machine that may affect other installed programs.
  10. Next, you'll need to choose an option for how Git should treat line endings in text files. If you're planning on sharing your project with others who may be using a different operating system, choose Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings.
  11. Choose Next to start the installation.
  12. Click Finish to exit the installer.

You can access Git bash or the Git GUI in a couple of ways:

  1. Open the Start menu, you'll find a new Git folder with both Git gui and Git Bash icon
  2. Using the Windows Explorer context menu
    • Navigate to a folder on your machine
    • Right click inside the folder. You'll notice two new options in your context menu: Git Bash and Git Gui

OK, Windows user, you're done with installation. We'll practice git in the next class.

Install Git on a Mac

There's a chance Git is already installed on your Mac. Open up a terminal window and run "git". If you get a long list of commands, you're probably ready to go. If the terminal says something about not knowing what you're talking about (you may see something about "no developer tools"), you'll have to install it:

Go to the git-scm downloads page and download the newest version of Git. When you open up the downloaded installer, the program will walk you through the set up, which is a quick process.

You can put in some configurations now - these will be added to every project you start on your computer. Open up your Terminal and run:

git config --global user.name "your name"
git config --global user.email "your email address"

You're ready to start working with Git on your computer!

Install Git on Other Platforms

So you're not using Windows or Mac? We're impressed! Try git-scm/downloads for your OS and follow instructions from there.