Getting Groovy (and Grails)

This post provides simple instructions for getting git installed and set up on a recent (Leopard) Mac.

Start by going to the download page on the git website. Click on the “OSX installer” link, and then on the website, select the latest .dmg file (currently 1.6.3.1). Double click on the dmg file, and then double click on the git installer. You’ll need to enter your root password and when the installer says it was successful, you can eject and delete the dmg.

To test git, open a terminal and type “git”. You should see a list of commands. That’s it, you’re ready to get started with git. Go into a directory, “mkdir testproject”, “cd testproject” and “git init” and now you have an initial repo for that directory. Create a file (e.g. “touch myfile.txt”), “git add .” to add the file to the staging area, “git status” to check out the status, and “git commit -m ‘initial commit’” to commit the file to the repository. Now a “git status” will confirm that the working directory is clean and if you “gitk” you’ll get an (ugly) visual representation of the repo.

Looking for a prettier view of the repo? Download gitx – a nice repo viewer for git on the Mac. Download and install it, make sure to enable command line integration when installing, and then just type “gitx” within a git controlled directory and you’ll get a more attractive visual interface for repo viewing.

If you use TextMate, it has good support for core git commands. Just follow the download instructions here and remember to add the TM_GIT variable so TextMate can find git. Using the default installer, you’ll probably find that the git binaries are installed in /usr/local/git/bin.

You might also want to check out gitnub and changes, If you do, let me know how they work out for you as I haven’t had a chance/need to evaluate either to date.