# Stash Latest (2.12) : Installing and upgrading Git

Created and last modified by pwatson on Mar 02, 2014

This page describes:

- how to install Git for the first time, or
- how to upgrade an existing installation of Git,

on either your local machine, or on the Stash server.

##### On this page:

## Check your version of Git

You can check your current version of Git by running the `git --version` command in a terminal (Linux, Mac OS X) or command prompt (Windows). The Stash server requires one of these versions of Git: 1.7.6+, 1.8.0 – 1.8.4.2, 1.8.4.4+.

For example:

    git --version
    git version 1.7.7.3

See Supported platforms for more details about supported versions of Git.

If you don't see a supported version of Git, you'll need to either upgrade Git or perform a fresh install, as described below.

## Installing or upgrading Git on Linux

Use your package manager to install Git. For example, on Ubuntu 13.10, use:

    sudo apt-get install git

If you are using a different Linux distribution, you may need to use a different package repository to get the latest stable version of Git.

Now check the Git version – you should see the new version of Git.

If you still can't see the Git version, you may need to add the Git install location to your path. Open your `~/.profile` file in a text editor and add this line, where `<path/to/git>` is the install location for Git:

    export PATH=$PATH:<path/to/git>

You can use the `which git` command to find the install location for Git.

## Installing or upgrading Git on Mac OS X

Download the latest stable Git release from the Git website. Click on the downloaded .dmg file, then double-click the .pkg icon to run the installer. This will install the new version of Git over the existing version:

Now check the Git version – you should see the new version of Git.

If you still can't see the Git version, you may need to add the Git install location to your path. Open your `~/.profile` file in a text editor and add this line, where `<path/to/git>` is the install location for Git:

    export PATH=$PATH:<path/to/git>

You can use the `which git` command to find the install location for Git.

## Installing or upgrading Git on Windows

Download the Full installer for official Git for Windows. Installing Git for Windows (msysGit) also installs a supported version of Perl.

msysGit is the only supported distribution when running Stash on Windows. Cygwin Git is not supported and has known issues.

Run the Git installer, ensuring that you install into the same location as any existing Git installation. You can use `where git` to locate existing installations.

Ensure that git.exe is available in the path:

- Choose either Option 2, "Run Git from the Windows Command Prompt", or Option 3, "Run Git and included Unix tools from the Windows Command Prompt", will both work with Stash.
- Do not select Option 1, "Use Git Bash only" -- this will not work with Stash.

Now, check the Git version – you should see the new version of Git.

Restart Stash if necessary

If you've been installing or upgrading Git for the Stash server, rather than for your local machine, you'll need to stop and restart Stash so that it will pick up the upgraded version of Git. In a terminal (Linux, Mac OS X) or command prompt (Windows), change directory to `<Stash installation directory>` and run:

Linux and Mac OS X

    bin/stop-stash.sh
    ... wait for Stash to shut down ...
    bin/start-stash.sh

Windows

    bin\stop-stash.bat
    ... wait for Stash to shut down ...
    bin\start-stash.bat

## Attachments:

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