codekingpro/portable-devtools

1README.portable2=======================3 4This version of Git for Windows is portable, i.e. does not need to5be installed. It will run from any directory you place it in, even6from a USB thumbdrive. It will not write permanent entries into the7Windows registry. It does not need administrator privileges to "install".8 9 10Installation11------------12 13This package is contained in a 7-zip archive with a file name of the form14'PortableGit-<versionstring>.7z.exe'.  It is a self-extracting archive:15you can (double-)click it and it will ask for the desired target directory16(which defaults to C:\Program Files\Git). You may change that as needed or17desired. Your user account needs write access to the selected directory.18(You can move that directory with all its contents to a different place or19computer at any time should you later desire so).20 21*NOTE*: if you decide to unpack the archive using 7-Zip manually, you must22run the `post-install.bat` script. Git will not run correctly23otherwise.24 25Functional differences to the non-portable Git for Windows26----------------------------------------------------------27 28This version does not offer you the convenient right-click context menu29entries "Git GUI Here" and "Git Bash Here", because these would require30to add entries into the Windows registry.31 32 33Warning34-------35 36Since this portable package does not modify any Windows %path%37variables, it is not possible to run the git.exe and gitk.exe files38directly. Start the Git Bash or Git Cmd instead, or add the cmd/ folder39to your %path%.40 41 42How to start using PortableGit43------------------------------44 45If you are comfortable with a Unix-like shell, just launch 'git-bash.exe'.46 47If not, just launch 'git-cmd.exe'.48 49Alternatively, you can execute these commands to modify the %path%50variable temporarily:51 52        set gitdir=c:\portablegit53        set path=%gitdir%\cmd;%path%54 55Adjust the 'gitdir' according to your setup.  As long as you do not56close the command window, you can now simply type "git" or "gitk" to57really call "c:\portablegit\cmd\git.exe" or "c:\portablegit\cmd\gitk.exe".58 59By default, git-cmd and git-bash use the directory they were started from as60the working directory when run. You can override this by passing --cd-to-home61to them, which will set the user's home directory as the working directory (as62if Git for Windows was installed).63 64In addition, if you set the HOME environment variable (either permanently or65for the current session only) you can make Git store and  use the configuration66files in the directory specified in that variable. And if you specify67--cd-to-home, git-bash and git-cmd will use that as the working directory when68launched, too. For example:69 70        set HOME=%cd%/home71        git --cd-to-home72will use the relative directory named home (%cd% specifies the current73directory).74 75Quick start76-----------77 78Start configuring git with your personal settings:79        git config --global user.name "Joe Sixpack"80        git config --global user.email joe.sixpack@g_mail.com81 82Start using git:83        git --help84 85 86How to change %path% permanently87--------------------------------88 89You may also want to make the modification to the %path% variable a90permanent one. The %path% variable may be changed:91 92* either on a System level (for all users in the lower pane), if you are93  an Administrator94* or for your own user account only (in the upper pane).95 96To change the %path% variable permanently:97 98* right-click "My Computer",99* select "Properties",100* open "Advanced",101* click "Environment Variables",102* highlight the "Path" variable,103* click "Edit" (either in upper or in lower pane),104* add your specific path to front of "Variable value" field, separated105  by a semicolon from the existing entry.106 107