Git is an open-source distributed version control system used to track changes in projects and during software development. Git allows multiple contributors to simultaneously work on a single project, maintain and track the history of all changes. It enables efficient collaboration and allows developers to synchronize changes using Git-compatible platforms such as GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. This guide walks through installing and configuring Git on Ubuntu 24.04. By the end, you'll have the latest Git version installed and configured to work with local and remote repositories in your project environment. Before you begin, you need access to an Ubuntu 24.04 instance to install Git as a non-root sudo user. 1. Verify the Default Git Version Git is available by default on Ubuntu 24.04, but the default version may be outdated and not the latest. 1. View the default installed Git version: $ git --version Your output should be similar to the one below. git version 2.43.0 2. Run the Git command and verify that the default help page displays: $ git Output: usage: git [-v | --version] [-h | --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>] [--config-env=<name>=<envvar>] <command> [<args>] These are common Git commands used in various situations: ........ If Git is unavailable or outdated on your workstation, follow the steps below to install the latest Git version on your instance. 2. Install Git Using APT Git is available in the default APT package repositories on Ubuntu 24.04. 1. Add the Git PPA to the APT package repository sources: $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa 2. Update the APT package index: $ sudo apt update 3. Install Git: $ sudo apt install git -y This command installs the latest Git version and replaces the default version installed on your system. To install Git and all extra tools, install the git-all package instead. $ sudo apt install git-all 4. Verify the installed Git version: $ git --version Your output should be similar to the one below. git version 2.48.1 3. Install a Specific Git Version From Source Code Specific Git versions offer enhanced features and compatibility options you can use with applications or platforms like GitHub. 1. Install all required dependency packages for compiling Git: $ sudo apt install libz-dev libssl-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libexpat1-dev gettext cmake gcc -y 2. Visit the Git releases page and use wget to download your target .tar.gz Git source code archive depending on the version. For example, git-2.48.1.tar.gz. $ wget https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/git-2.48.1.tar.gz 3. Extract files from the archive: $ tar -zxvf git-2.48.1.tar.gz 4. Navigate to the Git directory depending on the downloaded version: $ cd git-2.48.1/ 5. Compile the source code to the /usr/local directory using Make: $ sudo make prefix=/usr/local all 6. Install the compiled Git package: $ sudo make prefix=/usr/local install 7. Test the installed Git version: $ git --version 4. Configure Git Git requires a valid username and email to include on commit messages in your project. 1. Add a global username to use with Git: $ git config --global user.name "Your Full Name" 2. Add a global email to use with Git: $ git config --global user.email "email@example.com" 3. Test the Git configuration and verify that your account information is available: $ git config --list Output: user.name=Your Full Name user.email=email@example.com Open the .gitconfig file in your user's home directory to modify the Git configuration directly without using commands. $ nano ~/.gitconfig 5. Access and Use Git on Ubuntu 24.04 1. Create a new project directory such as demo-project: $ mkdir demo-project 2. Navigate to the demo-project directory: $ cd demo-project 3. Create a new sample file such as file.txt: $ echo "Hello, Git Works!!" > file.txt 4. Initialize a new repository in the directory using Git: $ git init 5. Add all files in the directory to staging using Git: $ git add . Or specify a specific file to stage using Git. $ git add file.txt 6. Create a new commit using Git with all new or updated files: $ git commit -m "First Commit" -a The -a option includes all new and modified files in the commit. Output: 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 file.txt 7. Use the following command to commit specific files using Git: $ git commit -m "Initial Commit" file.txt 8. View the Git commit history: $ git log 9. Check the repository status to test all changes, and untracked files in the current branch: $ git status 10. Add a new remote repository and save it as origin to use with Git: $ git remote add origin <remote-repository-url> 11. Verify all available remotes: $ git remote -v 12. Push all local changes to the remote repository: $ git push origin main This command pushes all changes to the remote repository's main branch. Verify that you have write privileges to the remote repository before pushing changes using Git. 13. Pull the latest changes from the remote repository: $ git pull origin main 14. View all branches in the active project directory: $ git branch -a Output: * master The * asterisk symbol confirms the active branch while the /remotes/origin/master path indicates that a single branch master is available on the remote origin. 15. Create a new branch such as demo-branch using Git: $ git checkout -b demo-branch Output: Switched to a new branch 'demo-branch' Creating branches in Git allows you to separate environments in a project. For example, you can create a separate development and production branch to push different repository changes. 16. Switch to the branch: $ git checkout demo-branch 17. Check the active branch and verify that it's demo-branch: $ git branch Output: * demo-branch master 18. Switch back to the master branch: $ git checkout master Output: Switched to branch 'master' 19. Use the git merge command to merge branches. For example, merge the demo-branch to the master branch. $ git merge master --no-ff 20. Push changes to the remote repository: $ git push origin 21. Use the git clone command to clone a remote repository to a directory using Git. For example, clone the Nginx webserver repository. $ git clone https://github.com/nginx/nginx 6. Update Git You can upgrade Git from the active version to a new or latest version on your Ubuntu 24.04 instance. 1. Test the active Git version: $ git --version 2. Update the APT package index: $ sudo apt update 3. Install the Git package to automatically update the installed version: $ sudo apt install git -y This command installs the latest Git version available in the APT repository sources. The latest stable version is installed if you added the Git PPA to your repository sources. 4. Test the installed Git version and verify that it's updated: $ git --version Next Steps Set up SSH keys for authenticating with remote Git hosts like GitHub or GitLab. Learn Git branching strategies such as Gitflow for team collaboration. Configure a .gitignore file to exclude build artifacts and secrets from commits. Explore Git hooks to automate checks before commits or pushes. For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.