How to Install Git on Debian 12, 11, or 10

Git is the most widely used version control system for developers and system administrators. On Debian-based systems like Debian 12 (Bookworm), Debian 11 (Bullseye), and Debian 10 (Buster), installing Git is straightforward and requires only a few steps

Step 1: Update the System Packages

Before installing Git, update the package index to ensure you are installing the latest version available in Debian’s repositories:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Git

Use the default Debian repositories to install Git. This works for Debian 12, 11, and 10:

sudo apt install git -y

Verify the installation with:

git --version

This command will display the installed Git version.

Step 3: Configure Git User Information

Git requires user details for commits. Configure your name and email address globally on your system:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

You can confirm your configuration with:

git config --list

Step 4: Test Git Installation

To confirm that Git is working properly, create a new directory and initialize a repository:

mkdir test-git
cd test-git
git init

If you see the message “Initialized empty Git repository”, Git is successfully installed and ready to use.