How to Set Up Git Username and Email on Ubuntu

This article explains how to configure a Git username and email address on Ubuntu Linux.

Git is a distributed version control system widely used for software development and other version control tasks. When you make commits in Git, it records your username and email address in those commits.

Learning how to configure your Git username and email address is important because it helps to ensure that your commits are correctly attributed to you. This is especially useful when working on projects with other developers or contributing to open-source projects.

By setting up your Git username and email correctly, you can ensure that your contributions are properly recognized and that you receive credit for your work.

Additionally, having the correct contact information associated with your commits can be helpful in case other developers need to contact you about your contributions.

Installing Git

Before we begin, you need to have Git installed on your machine. If it’s not installed, open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

Configure Git Username and Email

Once Git is installed, you can configure your username and email using the git config command.

This can be set on a global or a local repository level. To set your global commit name and email address, run the git config command with the --global option.

Setting your Global Username

Open your terminal.

Type the following command to set your global Git username:

git config --global user.name "User_name" 

Replace "Your Name" with your name or the username you want to use for your Git commits.

Setting your Global Email Address

In the terminal, enter the following command to set your global email address:

git config --global user.email "your_email@example.com" 

Replace "your_email@example.com" with your actual email address. This should be the email address associated with your Git or GitHub account.

Setting Username and Email for a Single Repository

If you want to use a different username or email for a specific project, you can set that within the project’s directory.

Navigate to the project directory:

cd path/to/your/project 

Set the local username for this repository:

git config user.name "Project Specific Name" 

Set the local email address for this repository:

git config user.email "project_specific_email@example.com" 

Verifying your Configuration

After configuring your username and email, you can check your configuration by using the git config --list command.

git config --list

This will list all the Git configuration settings. You can specifically check for user.name and user.email settings to verify your configurations.

Checking Global Configuration

git config --global user.name
git config --global user.email

Checking Local Configuration

git config user.name
git config user.email

The repository-specific settings are stored in the .git/config, located in the root directory of the repository.

If the information is correct, your Git setup is complete, and any subsequent commits will be made using your configured username and email address.

If you need to change these settings at any point, simply run the git config command again with the new values.

That’s it!

Conclusion:

• Configuring your Git username and email is crucial for ensuring proper attribution of your commits
• The proper contact information associated with your commits can facilitate communication with other developers
• Installing Git and configuring your username and email are essential steps for a smooth Git setup on Ubuntu Linux