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BIOL 275 Biostatistics at MSUM

13 Git Setup

13.1 Introduction

Git is a version control system that helps track changes to your code and collaborate with others. See Git and Github for more information.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to install and configure Git for use with RStudio.

Note: If you are working in a campus computer lab or using Posit Cloud, Git is already installed. You do not need to install anything, but you do need to configure Git (see below).

More complete instructions can be found in the Install Git chapter of Happy Git and GitHub for the useR by Jenny Bryan. Additional help can be found on the Git Documentation site at 1.5 Getting Started - Installing Git.

13.2 Installing Git

13.2.1 Windows

  1. Download the Git installer from git-scm.com.
  2. Run the installer and accept the default settings.
  3. Ensure that “Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software” is selected.
  4. For the default editor, you can leave it as Vim or choose another text editor.
  5. Complete the installation and restart your computer (if prompted).

13.2.2 macOS

  1. Open the Terminal and type:

    git --version

    If Git is already installed, this will display the installed version.

  2. If Git is not installed, you can install it using Homebrew:

    brew install git

    If you do not have Homebrew installed, follow the instructions at brew.sh.

13.3 Configuring Git

Once Git is installed, you need to introduce yourself to Git by setting your name and email. This information is used to track your contributions.

13.3.1 Checking Your Git Configuration

Before setting up Git, check if you have already configured it:

library(gert)
git_config_global()

13.3.2 Setting Up Your Git Identity

If your name and email are not set, you can configure them using usethis:

library(usethis)
use_git_config(user.name = "Your Name", user.email = "your.email@example.com")

Replace "Your Name" with your actual name and "your.email@example.com" with the email address associated with your GitHub account.

13.4 Verifying Your Configuration

To verify that Git saved your settings, run:

git_config_global()

You should see your name and email in the output.

13.5 Next Steps

  • If you plan to use Git with GitHub, set up SSH authentication or use HTTPS.
  • Learn how to create and clone repositories in RStudio.

You’re now ready to use Git with RStudio!