Git is a source code management (SCM) tool. You might not need to use Git on a day-to-day basis, but if you’re working as a software engineer, you’ll likely come across it sooner or later. Consequently, you will need to install Git on your computer in order to be able to check code from version control systems like GitHub, Bitbucket and other similar services. Installing Git is fairly straightforward; this article will walk you through the process of installing Git on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.
Installing Git on Windows #
New versions of Windows come with Git pre-installed. However, if you are using an older version of Windows, you will need to install Git. To do this, open a command prompt. Navigate to the directory you wish to install Git in. Type “git –version” to make sure that you have the right version of Git installed. If it returns a version number, you are good to go. If you are installing on Windows 10, make sure you are logged in as an administrator. You may also need to install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2017.
Installing Git on Mac #
Newer versions of Mac come with Git pre-installed. To check if you have the latest version of Git installed, open a terminal and type “git –version”. If the version number appears, you have the latest version of Git installed. If you are using an older version of Mac and need to install Git, follow the steps below: Open a terminal. Type brew install git . Wait for the installation process to finish.
Installing Git on Linux #
Most Linux distributions have Git pre-installed. If you are using a Linux distribution and want to install Git, follow the steps below: If you are using a Linux distribution and the version of Git that came installed on the operating system is out of date, you can use the steps below to upgrade your version of Git. Open a terminal. Type sudo apt-get install git . Wait for the installation process to finish.
Verifying the Installation #
After installing Git on your computer, you can verify that it is working correctly. To do so, first create a sample directory by opening a command prompt and typing “mkdir sample”. Next, open a new terminal and navigate to the directory you just created by typing “cd sample”. To add the directory to your Git repository, you will need to type “git add .”. This will add the current directory to your repository. To save your changes, type “git commit -m ‘Initial commit'”. If everything is set up correctly, you will see something like this:
Conclusion #
Git is a powerful tool that will help you stay organised and keep track of changes as you develop software. However, installing it can be a daunting task for new developers who are not familiar with the process. Luckily, installing Git is relatively straightforward on all major operating systems. Once it is installed, you will be able to use it to save and track changes made to your code.
