The Git for Windows team is currently testing their newest release candidates, which is a port of Git 2.3 to Windows. As this is a significant change, I've written up a guide for people who are interested in helping to test out things.
You can find the latest releases for Git for Windows over on the Releases page:
https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases
As you can see, there are four different downloads. The differences between them are:
- whether the tool target 32-bit or 64-bit Windows
- whether the file is an installer or a Portable (self-extracting) archive
I recommend using the Portable installers at this stage, as:
- the Portable archive can be used alongside your existing Git installation, without clashing
- no installer means you can just delete the folder to cleanup when you're done
To check whether you are running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, run this command from Command Prompt:
wmic os get osarchitecture
Note: I strongly recommended using the new 64-bit version of Git for Windows, if possible.
So download the Portable archive for your desired version of Windows, launch it and change the install directory from the default. I'm going to use C:\git-for-windows\ for the purposes of this script.
Once you've done that, browse to the extracted folder and launch the git-bash.exe. There's also git-cmd.exe but the underlying setup should be the same.
And that's it.
While I'd love to see you using this in your everyday activity, at this point the team is looking for feedback that involves:
- errors in common scenarios
- errors that can be reproduced consistently
- errors in repositories that can be shared with the Git for Windows contributors
So if you find something that breaks, a good bug report is invaluable to the contributors. It should contain these details:
- What build do you have installed?
- What version of Windows are you running? 32-bit or 64-bit?
- What are the steps to reproduce the issue?
- Is the repository public? Can it be shared?
- If the error involves changes to the index or working directory (i.e. modified files), can the repository be archived and hosted somewhere like SkyDrive/Dropbox? This will help the contributors view the repository in the right state and help with reproducing the problem.
With all those details in hand, please file an issue here:
https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/new
Due to how widely-adopted Git is, and the breadth of different setups (both for repositories and developers), it would be greatly appreciated to take time out to help test these builds to ensure the best quality Git tooling for Windows developers.
If you've read this far, thank you for taking time out to participate.
@joezimjs -- Console2 works for me! You must use the same 32/64 bit version of Console2 as your Git install. If they don't match, Console2 will just freeze on start.
To add Git as a new console type in Console2, go to Console2 Settings -> Tabs -> Add and then in the "Shell" box, put
(or Program Files (x86) if you're using 32-bit versions of each)
Then you can use File->New Tab to launch a new tab or use ctrl-F1 ctrl-F2 etc.