Install and Configure Git on Linux

Install Git

# Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, Raspberry Pi OS
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git
# Fedora
sudo dnf install git
# Arch
sudo pacman -S git
# openSUSE
sudo zypper install git
# check
git --version

Fedora and Arch track recent upstream releases. Debian stable and Ubuntu LTS keep the version from release day with security fixes, which is fine for nearly everyone. If you need a newer feature on Ubuntu or Mint, use the official Git maintainers' PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

Useful extras: git-lfs for large binary files, gitk and git-gui for simple graphical views, and gh (GitHub CLI) or glab (GitLab CLI) where your distribution packages them.

First-time configuration

Git records a name and email in every commit. Set them once for your user:

git config --global user.name "Alex Doe"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global core.editor "nano"      # or vim, "code --wait"
git config --global pull.rebase false       # merge on pull (or true to rebase)
git config --global fetch.prune true        # drop deleted remote branches
git config --list --show-origin

Use the email address your Git host associates with your account (GitHub and GitLab offer a private "noreply" address) so commits link to your profile. For one repository with a different identity, such as work, run the same commands inside it without --global.

Line endings: on Linux leave core.autocrlf unset, or set it to input if you work with files from Windows, so CRLF never gets committed:

git config --global core.autocrlf input

Authenticate to GitHub, GitLab and others

SSH keys (recommended)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub        # paste this into your Git host's SSH keys settings
ssh -T [email protected]            # test (or [email protected])
git clone [email protected]:user/repo.git

Example output:

Hi alex! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

The full walkthrough, including passphrases and ssh-agent, is in setting up SSH keys. If the test fails, see Permission denied (publickey). To switch an existing clone from HTTPS to SSH:

git remote -v
git remote set-url origin [email protected]:user/repo.git

HTTPS with a token

Git hosts no longer accept your account password for Git over HTTPS; use a personal access token instead. To avoid typing it each time, use a credential helper:

# keep credentials in memory for an hour
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600'
# or let the GitHub CLI manage it
gh auth login

Fedora packages git-credential-libsecret, which stores tokens in the desktop keyring (GNOME Keyring or KWallet):

sudo dnf install git-credential-libsecret
git config --global credential.helper libsecret

Sign commits with your SSH key

Git can sign commits with an SSH key instead of GPG, which most hosts display as "Verified":

git config --global gpg.format ssh
git config --global user.signingkey ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
git config --global commit.gpgsign true
git config --global tag.gpgsign true

Add the same public key to your Git host again, this time as a signing key. To verify signatures locally, create an allowed-signers file:

echo "[email protected] $(cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub)" >> ~/.config/git/allowed_signers
git config --global gpg.ssh.allowedSignersFile ~/.config/git/allowed_signers
git log --show-signature -1

Create ~/.config/git/ first with mkdir -p ~/.config/git if it doesn't exist.

Common tasks

git clone [email protected]:user/repo.git
git status
git add file.txt            # or git add -p to stage hunks
git commit -m "Describe the change"
git push
git pull
git switch -c feature-x     # new branch
git log --oneline --graph --all

A global ignore file keeps editor and OS clutter out of every repository:

printf '.vscode/\n*.swp\n.DS_Store\n' >> ~/.config/git/ignore

Git reads ~/.config/git/ignore automatically. For the rest of the everyday commands (undoing changes, stashing, rebasing, tags), see the Git commands cheat sheet.

Troubleshooting

For any command, GIT_TRACE=1 git <command> prints what Git is doing, and GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -v" git fetch shows the SSH negotiation.

Frequently asked questions