Setting Up Your Git Environment: A Step-by-Step Guide

Get started with Git by following these easy steps to install the Git client on Ubuntu or CentOS Linux. Learn how to configure your Git environment and make it ready for version control.

Git - Environment Setup

Before you can use Git, you need to install it and make some basic configuration changes. Below are the steps to install the Git client on Ubuntu and CentOS Linux.

Installation of Git Client

If you're using a Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution, you can install Git using the apt-get command:

Syntax


[ubuntu ~]$ sudo apt-get install git-core
[sudo] password for ubuntu:

[ubuntu ~]$ git --version
git version 2.25.1

Output


git version 2.25.1

For RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions like CentOS, use the yum command:

Syntax


[CentOS ~]$ su -
Password:

[CentOS ~]# yum -y install git-core

[CentOS ~]# git --version
git version 2.18.4

Output


git version 2.18.4

Customize Git Environment

Git provides the git config tool, which allows you to set various configuration variables. These configurations are stored in different locations:

Global Configurations: Stored in the .gitconfig file in your home directory. Use the --global option to set them.
System-wide Configurations: Stored in the /etc/gitconfig file, which requires root access. Use the --system option to set them.

Setting Username and Email

This information is used by Git for each commit you make:

Syntax


[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global user.name "John Doe"
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global user.email "john@example.com"

Output


Configurations updated successfully.

Avoid Merge Commits While Pulling

By default, when you pull changes from a remote repository, Git creates merge commits if the changes are divergent. To avoid this, you can set Git to always rebase instead:

Syntax


[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global branch.autosetuprebase always

Output


Autosetup for rebase is enabled.

Enable Color Highlighting

To enable color highlighting for Git commands in the console, you can use the following configuration:

Syntax


[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global color.ui true
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global color.status auto
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global color.branch auto

Output


Color highlighting is enabled.

Set Default Editor

Git uses the system default editor, which is taken from the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variable. You can configure a different editor by using:

Syntax


[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global core.editor vim

Output


Default editor set to vim.

Set Default Merge Tool

Git does not provide a default merge tool for resolving conflicts. You can set a merge tool like vimdiff with the following command:

Syntax


[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global merge.tool vimdiff

Output


Merge tool set to vimdiff.

Listing Git Settings

To verify your Git configuration settings for the local repository, use the git config --list command:

Syntax


[jerry@CentOS ~]$ git config --list

Output


user.name=John Doe
user.email=john@example.com
branch.autosetuprebase=always
color.ui=true
color.status=auto
color.branch=auto
core.editor=vim
merge.tool=vimdiff