How to Install Git from Source

How to Install Git from Source

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If you are eager to download the most recent version of Git, it is generally a good idea to install it from the source. 

Quickly run apt-get update to make sure that you download the most recent packages to your VPS.

sudo apt-get update

Prior to installing Git itself, download all of the required dependancies:

sudo apt-get install libcurl4-gnutls-dev libexpat1-dev gettext libz-dev libssl-dev build-essential

Once they are installed, you can download the latest version of Git from the google code page.

wget https://git-core.googlecode.com/files/git-1.8.1.2.tar.gz

After it downloads, untar the file and switch into that directory:

tar -zxf git-1.8.1.2.tar.gz

cd git-1.8.1.2

If you want to do a global install, install it once as yourself and once as root, using the sudo prefix:

make prefix=/usr/local all
sudo make prefix=/usr/local install

If you need to update Git in the future, you can use Git itself to do it.

git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git

 

How to Setup Git

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After Git is installed, whether from apt-get or from the source, you need to copy your username and email in the gitconfig file. You can access this file at ~/.gitconfig. 

Opening it following a fresh Git install would reveal a completely blank page:

sudo nano ~/.gitconfig

You can use the follow commands to add in the required information.

git config --global user.name "NewUser"
git config --global user.email [e-mail]

You can see all of your settings with this command:

git config --list

If you avoid putting in your username and email, git will later attempt to fill it in for you, and you may end up with a message like this:

[master 0d9d21d] initial project version
 Committer: root <root@droplet1.(none)>
Your name and email address were configured automatically based
on your username and hostname. Please check that they are accurate.
You can suppress this message by setting them explicitly:

    git config --global user.name "Your Name"
    git config --global user.email [e-mail]

After doing this, you may fix the identity used for this commit with:

    git commit --amend --reset-author

 

See More

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This tutorial covered how to install Git on your virtual private server. Stay tuned for a second tutorial on Git Basics.