Skip to content

Git Setup and Configuration

Before you start learning Git commands, you need to install Git and configure it for your development environment.

Installation

Check if Git is Already Installed

git --version

If Git is installed, you'll see a version number. If not, follow the installation instructions below.

Install Git

Option 1: Using Homebrew (Recommended)

# Install Homebrew if you don't have it
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Git
brew install git

Option 2: Download Installer Download from git-scm.com

Download and Install

  1. Visit git-scm.com
  2. Download the installer for your system (32-bit or 64-bit)
  3. Run the installer with default settings

Using Windows Package Manager

winget install Git.Git

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

# For CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install git

# For Fedora
sudo dnf install git

Initial Configuration

After installing Git, you need to configure your identity. This information is included in every commit you make.

Set Your Name and Email

git config --global user.name "Your Full Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

Use Your Real Information

Use your actual name and email address. If you plan to use GitHub, use the same email address you'll use for your GitHub account.

Configure Your Default Editor

Git will sometimes open a text editor for commit messages. Set your preferred editor:

# For VS Code
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

Set Default Branch Name

Configure Git to use main as the default branch name for new repositories:

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Verify Your Configuration

Check that your configuration is set correctly:

git config --list

You should see your name, email, and other settings in the output.

Optional: Set Up a Global .gitignore

Create a global .gitignore file for files you want to ignore in all repositories:

# Create the global .gitignore file
touch ~/.gitignore_global

# Configure Git to use it
git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

Add common files to ignore:

# Add OS-specific files to global .gitignore
echo ".DS_Store" >> ~/.gitignore_global
echo "Thumbs.db" >> ~/.gitignore_global
echo ".vscode/" >> ~/.gitignore_global
echo "*.swp" >> ~/.gitignore_global

Testing Your Setup

Create a test repository to verify everything works:

# Create a test directory
mkdir git-test
cd git-test

# Initialize a Git repository
git init

# Create a test file
echo "Hello, Git!" > test.txt

# Add and commit the file
git add test.txt
git commit -m "Initial commit"

# Check the commit log
git log

If you see your commit with your name and email, everything is set up correctly!

Clean up the test:

cd ..
rm -rf git-test

Common Configuration Options

Here are some additional useful configuration options:

# Colorize Git output
git config --global color.ui auto

# Set up line ending handling (important for cross-platform projects)
# For Windows:
git config --global core.autocrlf true

# For macOS/Linux:
git config --global core.autocrlf input

# Set up push behavior
git config --global push.default simple

# Enable Git's built-in credential helper (saves passwords)
# For macOS:
git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain

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

# For Linux:
git config --global credential.helper store

Troubleshooting

"Command not found" Error

If you get a "git: command not found" error:

  1. Make sure Git is installed using the installation instructions above
  2. Restart your terminal to refresh the PATH
  3. On Windows: Make sure Git was added to your PATH during installation

Permission Denied Errors

If you encounter permission errors:

  1. Check file permissions in your repository directory
  2. Make sure you own the repository directory
  3. On Windows: Try running the terminal as administrator

Configuration Issues

If Git doesn't seem to use your configuration:

  1. Check for typos in email addresses or names
  2. Verify configuration with git config --list
  3. Use --global flag to set user-wide configuration

What's Next?

Now that Git is installed and configured, you're ready to start learning how Git works conceptually.

Next: Interactive Learning →