# Git Tools
Git was created by Linus Torvalds for development of the Linux kernel aimed towards data integrity and speed. It quickly became popular not in the least because of Github, a web-based Git hosting service.
# Git installation
Get the latest Git release from git-scm.com. Although many Graphical User Interface (GUI) clients for Git exist, this tutorial is going to focus on the command line tool. Mainly because the command line interface is a valuable tool for software development and system administration.
When going through the installer, adjust the PATH environment accordingly. If you forget to select to use Git from the Windows Command Prompt it is possible to change the PATH environment variable to include the Git\bin directory.
When selecting a default editor: select Visual Studio Code.
When installed correctly, open a command prompt (hit windows key, start typing cmd and hit enter). All command line input is indicated in the grey rectangle.
git
When you type in the command git
, the following output is given, if Git is installed successfully and it has been added to the PATH
environment variable.
usage: git [--version] [--help] [-C <path>] [-c <name>=<value>]
[--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]
[-p | --paginate | -P | --no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]
[--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]
<command> [<args>]
These are common Git commands used in various situations:
start a working area (see also: git help tutorial)
clone Clone a repository into a new directory
init Create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing one
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After installation, Git must be configured with a name and e-mail address. This is important because every Git commit is accompanied with this information.
git config --global user.name "Firstname Lastname"
git config --global user.email "Firstname.Lastname@example.com"
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# Posh-git
Posh-git is a Powershell module that provides a status summary of the git repository. It also provides tab completion on git commands, branch names, etc.
Open an elevated Powershell terminal
Right-click on Powershell and select run as administrator.
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Confirm
Enter 'y' two times to confirm
Install-Module PowerShellGet -Force -AllowClobber
Enter 'y' to confirm
PowerShellGet\Install-Module posh-git -Force
Add-PoshGitToProfile
Open a new Powershell window. If your current directory contains a git repository Powershell will display the current status information. For example:
Note: if your account is not the administrator, Add-PoshGitToProfile
will add posh-git to the administrator profile. In that case you need to manually edit the Powershell profile script.
notepad $profile.CurrentUserAllHosts
Add Import-Module posh-git to this file and save.
# Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a lightweight but powerful source code editor which runs on your desktop and is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. It comes with built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, and Git and has a rich ecosystem of extensions for other languages (such as C++, C#, Java, Python, PHP, Go) and runtimes (such as .NET and Unity).
Basically it is a great editor for markdown and many other coding projects.
Navigate to code.visualstudio.com and download the latest version.
Follow the installation wizard.