Otherwise, you’ll have to go to and register an Apple Developer account in order to download these tools. If you don’t mind the 4GB, by all means go for Xcode. However, for the purposes of getting Git and Github setup, you’ll only need a specific set of command line tools 2 which fortunately take up much less space.
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Xcode is a nearly 4GB developer suite Apple offers for free from the Mac App Store. You’ll also need to ensure that your user account on your computer has admin privileges and that you know your account’s password. If you are unsure of what OS you have, go up to the top left of your screen, click the Apple menu, and select “About This Mac.” This tutorial assumes you’re using a Mac running at least OS X 10.7.
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Ultimately just a few days after releasing it, nearly everyone in the office - including design, production, management, and even a few devs setting up new machines - was able to at least view the latest code on their workstations.Īside from the fact that my guide helped others quickly get through the arduous process of installation and configuration, I was happy to have it as a quick reference for myself when setting up new machines of my own. This then is a slightly abbreviated 1 version of the guide I distributed out to the team.
In an effort to unleash this previously untapped resource for a round of intense polishing and bug-fixing, I took it upon myself to write a step-by-step guide that any member of our studio could follow and be up and running with developer tools, Git, connected to Github, and ready to work on the project codebase. Some even knew programming languages like Javascript, PHP, and Ruby. Most of the designers had some knowledge of the technologies that went into the codebase, particularly presentation layer tech like HTML and CSS. Most of the designers had never worked with Git, let alone ever configured it on their workstations. However, there was a slight “problem.” The project’s codebase was exclusively managed via Git repositories on Github. At a recent job, the staff design team was beginning a period of close collaboration with the front-end development team in the interest of achieving the best possible product in the shortest period of time. I enjoy helping people become more efficient and productive, particularly when it comes to their computers and mobile devices. However, I had difficulty finding one that explained every step required in order with simple enough instructions for Terminal novices to follow along with autonomously. There are already plenty of guides that explain the particular steps of getting Git and Github going on your mac in detail.
While the steps below should still work, I recommend checking out the new guide if you are running 10.9!
There is an updated version of this post for OS X 10.9.
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19, 2013 Beginner's Setup Guide for Git & Github on Mac OS X