Introduction

Before you can start using Git for version control, you need to set up your local environment. This involves installing Git on your machine and configuring some basic settings, particularly your user identity. This section will guide you through the installation process and the essential initial configurations.

Installing Git

The first step is to install Git on your computer. The installation process varies depending on your operating system.

Windows

Download the latest version of Git for Windows from the official website: https://git-scm.com/download/win. Run the installer and follow the prompts. Most default settings are fine for beginners, but pay attention to the PATH environment configuration. Choose "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software" for maximum compatibility.

macOS

There are several ways to install Git on macOS:

• Homebrew: If you have Homebrew installed, you can install Git with the command:

  brew install git

• Git Installer: Download the Git installer for macOS from: https://git-scm.com/download/mac
• Xcode Command Line Tools: Git might be included with the Xcode Command Line Tools. You can check if it's installed by running git --version in your terminal. If not installed, macOS will prompt you to install the Xcode Command Line Tools when you run this command.

Linux

On most Linux distributions, you can install Git using your distribution's package manager. Here are a few examples:

• Debian/Ubuntu:

  sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

• Fedora:

  sudo dnf install git

• CentOS/RHEL:

  sudo yum install git

• Arch Linux:

  sudo pacman -S git

After installation, verify that Git is installed correctly by opening your terminal or command prompt and running the following command:

git --version

This should display the installed Git version.

Configuring Your User Identity

After installing Git, you need to configure your user identity. This information is used to associate your commits with your name and email address. This is important for collaboration and tracking changes.

Use the following commands to set your name and email address:

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

Replace "Your Name" with your actual name and "your.email@example.com" with your email address.

The --global flag tells Git to store these settings globally, meaning they will apply to all Git repositories on your system. You can override these settings on a per-repository basis if needed.

Understanding Basic Git Configuration

Git uses a configuration system to manage settings. There are three levels of configuration:

• System: System-wide configuration, applied to all users on the system. This is generally read-only and not something you'll modify as a beginner.
• Global: User-specific configuration, stored in ~/.gitconfig or ~/.config/git/config (depending on your OS). This is what we configured above with --global.
• Local: Repository-specific configuration, stored in .git/config within your Git repository. This overrides global and system settings for that particular repository.

You can view your current Git configuration settings using the following command:

git config --list

This will display a list of all configured settings, including your name, email, and other configurations you may have set.

To get the value of a specific configuration variable, you can use:

git config user.name
git config user.email

Understanding these basic configuration options is crucial for managing your Git environment and ensuring that your commits are properly attributed to you.