Setting Up Git
Overview
Teaching: 5 min
Exercises: 0 minQuestions
How do I get set up to use Git?
Objectives
Configure
gitthe first time it is used on a computer.Understand the meaning of the
--globalconfiguration flag.
When we use Git on a new computer for the first time, we need to configure a few things. Below are a few examples of configurations we will set as we get started with Git:
- our name and email address,
- to colorize our output,
- what our preferred text editor is,
- and that we want to use these settings globally (i.e. for every project)
On a command line, Git commands are written as git verb,
where verb is what we actually want to do. So here is how to set things
up so that GitHub recognizes that it’s you behind the guest account:
$ git config --global user.name "Your Name"
$ git config --global user.email "The email address you connect to GitHub with"
$ git config --global color.ui "auto"
Please use your own name and email address. This user name and email will be associated with your subsequent Git activity, which means that any changes pushed to GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab or another Git host server in a later lesson will include this information. If you are concerned about privacy, please review GitHub’s instructions for keeping your email address private.
Next, choose which text editor you prefer to use. (I’ll be using nano because many of the lessons are written in it, but you may see me make vi shortcuts by reflex occasionally.)
| Editor | Configuration command |
|---|---|
| Atom | $ git config --global core.editor "atom --wait" |
| nano | $ git config --global core.editor "nano -w" |
| Text Wrangler (Mac) | $ git config --global core.editor "edit -w" |
| Sublime Text (Mac) | $ git config --global core.editor "subl -n -w" |
| Sublime Text (Win, 32-bit install) | $ git config --global core.editor "'c:/program files (x86)/sublime text 3/sublime_text.exe' -w" |
| Sublime Text (Win, 64-bit install) | $ git config --global core.editor "'c:/program files/sublime text 3/sublime_text.exe' -w" |
| Notepad++ (Win, 32-bit install) | $ git config --global core.editor "'c:/program files (x86)/Notepad++/notepad++.exe' -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin" |
| Notepad++ (Win, 64-bit install) | $ git config --global core.editor "'c:/program files/Notepad++/notepad++.exe' -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin" |
| Kate (Linux) | $ git config --global core.editor "kate" |
| Gedit (Linux) | $ git config --global core.editor "gedit --wait --new-window" |
| Scratch (Linux) | $ git config --global core.editor "scratch-text-editor" |
| emacs | $ git config --global core.editor "emacs" |
| vim | $ git config --global core.editor "vim" |
It is possible to reconfigure the text editor for Git whenever you want to change it.
Exiting Vim
Note that
vimis the default editor for for many programs, if you haven’t usedvimbefore and wish to exit a session, typeEscthen:q!andEnter.
The four commands we just ran above only need to be run once: the flag --global tells Git
to use the settings for every project, in your user account, on this computer.
You can check your settings at any time:
$ git config --list
You can change your configuration as many times as you want: just use the same commands to choose another editor or update your email address.
Git Help and Manual
Always remember that if you forget a git command, you can access the list of command by using -h and access the git manual by using –help :
$ git config -h $ git config --help
Key Points
Use
git configto configure a user name, email address, editor, and other preferences once per machine.