Using Git to Code, Collaborate and Share: Setup

Completing this course requires you to have access to a computer with Git installed. This course is currently being delivered remotely so please make sure you have access to a suitable computer. All attendees should download the zip file and, if not already available, install Git.

Downloading the Zip File

The zip archive containing files that will be used in the session is available here. Please download and save it in your home directory, do not extract it yet.

Install Git

Please follow the relevant instructions depending on your operating system.

Windows

  1. Download the Git for Windows installer.
  2. Run the installer and follow the steps below:
    1. Click on “Next” four times (two times if you’ve previously installed Git). You don’t need to change anything in the Information, location, components, and start menu screens.
    2. From the dropdown menu select “Use the nano editor by default” and click on “Next”.
    3. Ensure that “Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software” is selected and click on “Next”. (If you don’t do this Git Bash will not work properly, requiring you to remove the Git Bash installation, re-run the installer and to select the “Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software” option.)
    4. Ensure that “Use the native Windows Secure Channel library” is selected and click on “Next”.
    5. Ensure that “Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings” is selected and click on “Next”.
    6. Ensure that “Use Windows’ default console window” is selected and click on “Next”.
    7. Ensure that “Enable file system caching” and “Enable Git Credential Manager” are selected and click on “Next”.
    8. Click on “Install”.
    9. Click on “Finish”.
  3. If your “HOME” environment variable is not set (or you don’t know what this is):
    1. Open command prompt (Open Start Menu then type cmd and press [Enter])
    2. Type the following line into the command prompt window exactly as shown:
    3. setx HOME "%USERPROFILE%"
    4. Press [Enter], you should see SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.
    5. Quit command prompt by typing exit then pressing [Enter]

This will provide you with both Git and Bash via the program Git Bash. You should be able to launch Git Bash from the Start Menu. Within the window that launches enter the command git --version and press enter. You should see output similar to the below:

git version 2.34.1.windows-1

MacOS

For OS X 10.9 and higher, install Git for Mac by downloading and running the most recent “mavericks” installer from this list. Because this installer is not signed by the developer, you may have to right click (control click) on the .pkg file, click Open, and click Open on the pop up window. After installing Git, there will not be anything in your /Applications folder, as Git is a command line program. For older versions of OS X (10.5-10.8) use the most recent available installer labelled “snow-leopard” available here.

To check the installation was successful open the “Terminal” app. In the window that launches enter the command git --version and press enter. You should see output similar to the below:

git version 2.33.0

Linux

If Git is not already available on your machine you can try to install it via your distributions package manager. For Debian/Ubuntu run sudo apt-get install git and for Fedora run sudo dnf install git.

To check the installation was successful open a new terminal. In the window that launches enter the command git --version and press enter. You should see output similar to the below:

git version 2.25.0