Git generally comes pre-installed with most operating systems, but you
can check by running git version
in the terminal. If this gives you an error
or does not come back with a version number, you'll need to install Git. You can
install it using Homebrew.
- Open the "Terminal" application using "Spotlight Search"
- Type
brew install git
and press<Enter>
- Close and reopen the "Terminal" application
- Type
git version
and press<Enter>
If you see a message starting with "git version...", continue below.
To work on and get credit for the labs and lessons that you work on during the program, you will need to sign up for a GitHub account if you don’t already have one.
- Open the GitHub signup webpage (https://github.com/join)
- Fill out the form and create your account
- Verify the email address connected to your GitHub account
If you were able to verify your email address, continue below.
Git is the tool that we’ll use to download and upload the work that we do in labs and lessons. To use Git without signing in every time, you can create a Secure Shell (SSH) key and associate that to your GitHub account. Lastly, you will want to run a few commands to make sure that when you use Git, you get the proper credit for your work. This step will ask you to do work both in your browser and your terminal.
- Open the "Terminal" application using "Spotlight Search"
- Type
git config --global color.ui true
and press<Enter>
- Type
git config --global user.name
+<Space>
+ your name and press<Enter>
(Note: this should be your full name, not your GitHub username, in quotes.) - Type
git config --global user.email
+<Space>
+ the email address you used to sign up to GitHub and press<Enter>
- Type
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
to update the default branch name tomain
- Type
ssh-keygen
and press<Enter>
- For each prompt do not type anything, just continue to press
<Enter>
. It's particularly important that you do not enter a passphase and leave the passphrase empty when prompted; otherwise, you'll have to enter that passphrase any time you interact with GitHub (which will happen a lot during the program); and you may run into issues submitting assignments later. - Type
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | pbcopy
and press<Enter>
. This will copy your SSH key to your clipboard - Open the GitHub New SSH key form (https://github.com/settings/ssh/new) (Note: you need to be logged in to GitHub to access that link.)
- Type "My personal Mac" in the "Title" input field
- Leave the "Key Type" as "Authentication Key"
- Paste what’s on your clipboard from step 8 in the "Key" input field
- Click "Add SSH Key"
If you see your new SSH key beneath the "SSH keys" heading, continue to the next lesson, Verify and Troubleshoot your MacOS Environment Setup.