Git shows up as an application in Windows. If you do have an account, make sure you know your username, password, and the associated email address.

If you don’t already have one, create a GitHub account. In particular, current versions of RStudio require up to date operating systems. Note: if you are not using a current operating system (Windows 10 or Mac OSX 12) you may run into installation problems. Northwestern researchers can get help via our free consultation service. There are a lot of things that can go wrong along the way. In fact, Git comes installed by default on most Mac and Linux machines! Checking for Git Git can be installed on the most common operating systems like Windows, Mac, and Linux.To use git and GitHub with R/RStudio, you first need to set up all of the components. To see if you already have Git installed, open up your terminal application.

If you're on a Mac, look for a command prompt application called 'Terminal'.

If you're on a Windows machine, open the windows command prompt or 'Git Bash'.

Once you've opened your terminal application, type git version. The output will either tell you which version of Git is installed, or it will alert you that git is an unknown command. If it's an unknown command, read further and find out how to install Git. Installing GitHub Desktop will also install the latest version of Git if you don't already have it. With GitHub Desktop, you get a command line version of Git with a robust GUI. Type git version to verify Git was installed.Open the windows command prompt (or Git Bash if you selected not to use the standard Git Windows Command Prompt during the Git installation).Once the installer has started, follow the instructions as provided in the Git Setup wizard screen until the installation is complete.Navigate to the latest Git for Windows installer and download the latest version.Regardless of if you have Git installed or not, GitHub Desktop offers a simple collaboration tool for Git. Note: git-scm is a popular and recommended resource for downloading Git for Windows. The advantage of downloading Git from git-scm is that your download automatically starts with the latest version of Git included with the recommended command prompt, Git Bash.

The download source is the same Git for Windows installer as referenced in the steps above. Most versions of MacOS will already have Git installed, and you can activate it through the terminal with git version.

Using git for mac