Version Control with Git

Setting Up Git

Learning Objectives

• Configure git the first time it is used on a computer.
• Understand the meaning of the --global configuration 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 --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.