Version Control with Git
Setting Up Git
Learning 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 Dracula sets up his new laptop:
$ git config --global user.name "Vlad Dracula"
$ git config --global user.email "vlad@tran.sylvan.ia"
$ git config --global color.ui "auto"(Please use your own name and email address instead of Dracula’s.)
He also has to set his favorite text editor, following this table:
| Editor | Configuration command |
|---|---|
| nano | $ git config --global core.editor "nano -w" |
| Text Wrangler | $ 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) | $ git config --global core.editor "'c:/program files (x86)/Notepad++/notepad++.exe' -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin" |
| Kate (Linux) | $ git config --global core.editor "kate" |
| Gedit (Linux) | $ git config --global core.editor "gedit -s -w" |
| emacs | $ git config --global core.editor "emacs" |
| vim | $ git config --global core.editor "vim" |
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 --listYou can change your configuration as many times as you want: just use the same commands to choose another editor or update your email address.