How To Install Git on Ubuntu 12.04

Article Number: 165 | Rating: Unrated | Last Updated: Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 11:21 PM

About Git

Git is a distributed version control system released to the public in 2005. The program allows for non-linear development of projects, and can handle large amounts of data effectively by storing it on the local server.

This tutorial will cover two ways to install Git.

How to Install Git with Apt-Get

Installing Git with apt-get is a quick and easy process. The program installs on the virtual private server with one command:

sudo apt-get install git-core

After it finishes downloading, you will have Git installed and ready to use.

How to Install Git from Source

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.

wgethttps://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

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 [email protected]

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

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: