Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring Git

This chapter belong to Getting Started with Git: A Beginner's Guide Series

In this chapter, we will focus on installing Git on your computer and setting it up for use. Before diving into Git commands and usage, you must have Git installed and properly configured on your computer. Git is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems and can be easily installed using the installation packages provided by the Git official website.

Installing

• Installing Git on Windows

  To install Git on Windows, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Download the latest Git version from the official Git website
  2. Double-click the downloaded file and run the installer.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

• Installing Git on Mac

  To install Git on Mac, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Download the latest Git version from the official Git website.
  2. Double-click the downloaded file and run the installer.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
  4. Installing Git on Linux

• To install Git on Linux, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Open the terminal window and run the following command:

     sudo apt-get install git-all

  2. The system will prompt you for your password. Enter your password, and the Git installation process will begin.

  3. Once the installation is complete, you can run the Git version command to check if the installation was successful.

Configuring

Once you have installed Git on your computer, the next step is to configure it. You need to configure Git with your username and email address, as it will be used to identify the author of the changes made to the repository.

To configure Git, you need to run the following command in the terminal window:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "Your Email Address"

With these simple steps, you have installed and configured Git on your computer. In the next chapter, we will dive into the Git commands and usage. Before you start working with Git, it's important to understand the basics of version control and the Git terminology.