Git on Mac OS X v10.7 (Lion)

Question

I just upgraded my Mac to Mac OS X v10.7 (Lion), and now Git is gone:

$ git
-bash: git: command not found

How can I get Git back?

Well, where was it? How did you install it originally? Is the directory where it was still in your `PATH`? — Greg Hewgill, Jul 24 '11 at 22:04
Here exactly the same question http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/18470/git-not-found-after-installing-os-x-lion — jamapag, Jul 24 '11 at 22:07
You closed it yet it's exactly on topic based on the link you posted in the closed notice: "software tools commonly used by programmers". — Oscar Godson, Jul 28 '11 at 19:16
I had the same problem but instead of an upgrade, i used the migration assistant to load a new machine based on my old one. xcode was there, but the path to git was no longer found. So I added it to my path as outlined below. — dwaz, Aug 07 '12 at 04:34

score 149 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:28

149

The default install location is /usr/local, so add this to your ~/.bash_profile file:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/git/bin/

Then run source ~/.bash_profile in Terminal.

edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:28

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 24 '11 at 22:08

Chris Ledet

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I am fairly new to programming and I understand you have to add `PATH=/usr/local/git/bin:$PATH` to your ~/.bash_profile but I can't seem to find (or access .bash_profile). I tried typing `~/.bash_profile` in Terminal but got "Permission denied." I don't otherwise know how to access the .bash_profile (I tried using sudo but it's either not possible or I'm using the wrong sudo commands). I would greatly appreciate help in updating/accessing ~/.bash_profile – vich Aug 09 '11 at 17:54
Figured it out...since the file was locked I couldn't open it through Terminal so I had to make my hidden files visible then manually open .bash_profile in Finder and add the line of code to make it work. Thanks for the answer! – vich Aug 09 '11 at 18:18
Git does not ship with the base OS X Lion install, you need to install X Code, not all of it if you don't want it, of course. See the helpful note below. – Dmitri Sep 10 '11 at 20:12
3

on some systems (eg. mine) `~/.bash_profile` might be just `~/.profile` – kritzikratzi Sep 12 '11 at 21:14
@kritzikratzi he's talking about Lion not other systems. – Chris Ledet Sep 13 '11 at 01:55
1

i hate to reply to a response of a response, anyways: yes, i can read. yes, i have lion. yes, on my computer the file was ~/.profile; ~/.bash_profile doesn't even exist. – kritzikratzi Sep 25 '11 at 17:31
3

With latest Mountain Lion, you download and install Xcode from the App Store. In Xcode 4.3, git and 11MB of other command line tools are in /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin. (There's also an option to install Xcode > Preferences > Downloads > Command Line Tools (154.6 MB), I'm not sure what that gives you. – skierpage Jul 09 '12 at 00:09
@kritzikratzi, read `man bash`: "looks for ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile, in that order, and reads and executes commands from the first one that exists..." Only use ~/.profile if you use other bash-compatible shells and want the same settings in all. – skierpage Jul 09 '12 at 00:16
@skierpage yea, i guess that's the behavior you want with path variables :) btw., i'm using zsh, that would also explain the lack of a .bash_profile – kritzikratzi Jul 09 '12 at 18:43
This worked to fix my mountain lion install, I love you. Thank you so much. – Leonardo Dario Perna Jul 26 '12 at 22:46
make sure you have downloaded the Xcode Command Line Tools before trying the above (at least for Mountain Lion). – brainray Jul 28 '12 at 07:35
I'm giving you an upvote anyway but just to be clear the path on Mountain Lion is /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin as mentioned by @skierpage – Cfreak Jul 31 '12 at 19:55

score 15 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:59

15

If you do not want to install Xcode and/or MacPorts/Fink/Homebrew, you could always use the standalone installer: https://sourceforge.net/projects/git-osx-installer/

edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 25 '11 at 09:40

zakx

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They didn't have a version for Lion but I used the latest for Snow Leopard and it installed it at /usr/local/git/bin/git. So far so good. :) – milesmeow Feb 18 '12 at 16:55
That was perfect. Thanks for the tip @milesmeow ! – MRocklin Apr 24 '12 at 01:18

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:47

7

You have to find where the Git executable is and then add the folder to the PATH environment variable in file .bash_profile.

Using terminal:

Search for Git:
```
 sudo find / -name git
```
Edit the .bash_profile file. Add:
```
 PATH="<Directory of Git>:$PATH"
```

Git is back :-)

Anyway, I suggest you to install Git using MacPorts. In this way you can easily upgrade your Git instance to the newest release.

edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:47

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 24 '11 at 22:08

wezzy

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when I entered step one, I got this error "find: git: No such file or directory" – JGallardo May 06 '13 at 20:34
it seems that you don't have git installed in your system – wezzy May 11 '13 at 00:26
1

@JGallardo The find 'expression' above was broken. It was just using "find / git" but should be "find / -name git". I've edited the answer to be more compatible with all find versions (in case it worked for others already, but I doubt it?) – DustinB Jul 23 '13 at 13:13
I would had `git's directory` after the path in order to avoid eventual conflicts – Thomas Ayoub Feb 24 '14 at 08:44

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:56

7

There are a couple of points to this answer.

Firstly, you don't need to install Xcode. The Git installer works perfectly well. However, if you want to use Git from within Xcode - it expects to find an installation under /usr/local/bin. If you have your own Git installed elsewhere - I've got a script that fixes this.

Second is to do with the path. My Git path used to be kept under /etc/paths.d/ However, a Mac OS X v10.7 (Lion) install overwrites the contents of this folder and the /etc/paths file as well. That's what happened to me and I got the same error. Recreating the path file fixed the problem.

edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:56

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 25 '11 at 09:22

Abizern

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After upgrading to Lion, you can download XCode 4.1 for free from the Mac App Store and it fixes this as well. – mattmc3 Jul 25 '11 at 17:06
Yes, I assumed that was obvious, but good clarification b/c it might not be to some. – mattmc3 Jul 26 '11 at 00:19
8

With Xcode 4.3 under Lion, I find `git` $not$ at `/usr/local/bin` but rather at `/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin`. – murray Mar 17 '12 at 20:09

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:30

4

It's part of Xcode. You'll need to reinstall the developer tools.

edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:30

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 24 '11 at 22:08

jarjar

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Thanks! I naively thought it shipped with the base install. – Dmitri Sep 10 '11 at 20:13

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:29

1

You can always use MacPorts...

edited Nov 13 '20 at 20:29

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 24 '11 at 22:06

Manlio

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You'll need to install the developer tools to use either of these, and Xcode 4.x comes with git already. – jarjar Jul 24 '11 at 22:12
I tried installing MacPorts but it gave me an error that it could not install to this disk. I am trying to install on a work computer. – JGallardo May 06 '13 at 20:35

Git on Mac OS X v10.7 (Lion)

6 Answers6

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