What Version Control Even Is (and Getting Git Installed)

Before we touch a single command, let's clear up what this thing is - because if you don't know what problem Git solves, every command will feel like a magic word you're scared to get wrong.

So: what's the problem?

The problem version control actually solves

You're working on something. It works. You want to change it - but you're afraid that if the change breaks everything, you won't be able to get back to the version that worked. So you do what everyone does: you copy the whole folder and name it project-backup. Then project-backup-2. Then project-final. Then project-final-ACTUALLY-final.

And when a teammate emails you their copy, now there are two histories and no way to safely combine them. You're manually comparing files at midnight trying to figure out whose version is right.

That entire mess is what version control was invented to delete.

What version control actually is. It's a tool that takes named snapshots of your whole project and remembers every one of them, forever. Think of save points in a video game - except you decide when to save, you write a note on each save ("beat the boss," "fixed the login bug"), and you can return to any save you've ever made. No more copied folders. The folder stays one folder; the history lives quietly alongside it.

It does one more thing the copied-folders approach never could: it lets several people work on the same project and combine their work intelligently, instead of overwriting each other.

📝 Terminology. Version control (also called source control) is the general idea. Git is the specific, wildly popular tool that does it. When people say "the repo," they mean a project that Git is tracking. We'll define "repo" properly in Phase 2.

Git is not GitHub (this trips up everybody)

You will hear "Git" and "GitHub" used almost interchangeably, and it causes real confusion on day one. They are two different things:

   GIT                                   GITHUB
   ─────────────────────────             ─────────────────────────
   A program on your computer.           A website (github.com).
   Takes the snapshots.                  Stores copies of your project
   Works with zero internet.             online so you (and others)
                                         can access and share them.

   The tool.                             A place to keep a copy of
                                         what the tool produces.

A useful comparison: Git is like a word processor; GitHub is like Google Drive. One creates and manages the work on your machine; the other is a place on the internet to store and share it. There are other such websites (GitLab, Bitbucket) - GitHub is just the most common. You can use Git completely on your own with no account anywhere, which is exactly what we'll do in Phase 2. GitHub doesn't enter the picture until Phase 3.

💡 Key point. Git lives on your computer and does the real work. GitHub is an optional online home for a copy of it. Get this distinction now and half of the early confusion never happens.

Step 1: Install Git

Git is a small free program. Installing it is the same as installing any app - find your operating system below.

Windows. Download the installer from git-scm.com/download/win and run it. The default options are fine - keep clicking Next. This also installs a terminal called Git Bash, which is where you'll type the commands in this guide.

macOS. Open the Terminal app (press Cmd-Space, type "Terminal", hit Enter) and type git --version. If Git isn't installed yet, macOS offers to install the developer command-line tools for you - accept it. (If you use Homebrew, brew install git works too.)

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu). Open a terminal and run:

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

On Fedora it's sudo dnf install git. (sudo means "do this as administrator"; it'll ask for your password.)

Step 2: Check it worked

Open your terminal (Git Bash on Windows; Terminal on macOS/Linux) and type:

$ git --version
git version 2.43.0

What just happened: You asked Git to report its version, and it answered. The exact number doesn't matter - any answer at all means Git is installed and your terminal can find it. (If instead you got command not found or 'git' is not recognized, see Phase 4 - it's a common, fixable first stumble.)

Step 3: Tell Git who you are

This is the one setup step everyone skips and then trips over. Remember that every snapshot gets a note? It also gets signed with your name and email, so that later - especially when working with others - history shows who made each change. Git refuses to take its first snapshot until you've told it who you are.

You only do this once per computer. Type these two lines, with your own name and email:

$ git config --global user.name "Ada Lovelace"
$ git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

What just happened: Nothing printed, and that's correct - these commands save your settings quietly. --global means "use this for every project on this computer," so you never have to repeat it. Use the same email you'll later use for GitHub; it makes your commits line up with your account.

While you're here, set the default name for the starting branch to main (the modern standard - don't worry about what a branch is yet):

$ git config --global init.defaultBranch main

To confirm it all saved:

$ git config --global --list
user.name=Ada Lovelace
[email protected]
init.defaultBranch=main

What just happened: Git read back the settings you just stored. Seeing your name and email here means you're fully set up.

⚠️ Gotcha. If you skip this step, your very first commit in Phase 2 fails with Author identity unknown / Please tell me who you are. It looks alarming but means only this: you haven't run the two config commands above. Run them and try again. (It's in the Phase 4 cheat-card too.)

Recap

1. Version control = named save-points for your whole project, kept forever, plus a sane way to combine work from multiple people.
2. Git is the tool on your computer; GitHub is an optional website that hosts copies. Not the same thing.
3. You installed Git and proved it with git --version.
4. You told Git who you are with git config --global user.name/user.email - required before your first commit.

Your machine is ready. Next, you'll make an actual project and take your first snapshot - entirely offline, no GitHub needed yet.

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