Git for Teams

Appendix B. Installing the Latest Version of Git

This book primarily covers the basics in Git, so there aren’t a lot of new features that you’ll be missing out on if you don’t upgrade. In general, I find newer versions of the software to be increasingly more friendly to use. The error messages are clearer, and provide better “next action” suggestions. The syntax of some tricky commands has improved, making the commands easier to remember. (For example, the ability to delete a remote branch using the parameter --delete, and not some weird syntax involving a colon.)

So you think you have Git installed. Sweet!

But the version that ships with your operating system is 90% likely to be 100% old. “It’s all Git to me!” I hear you saying. I know, I know. I used to think the same thing: Git is old and complicated and hasn’t changed in a million Internet years. And then I went to a Git developer conference. At the conference, I met wonderful developers who were friendly and welcoming and patient and funny and very much actively engaged in making Git better. At the time, the maintainer of Git was Junio Hamano, and the Windows maintainer was Johannes Schindelin. They were both at the conference and were genuinely interested in making Git easier for you to use. You won’t see what the community has been up to if you don’t install the latest version!

You should always try to use the latest stable version of software, and you definitely owe it to yourself to ensure you are ...