Reinstalling Git with Homebrew to Get the Latest Version

Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 10:59 AM | 4 min read

Last modified on Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 6:37 AM

#command line, #homebrew, #git, #git upgrade, #macOS, #macOS tahoe, #sip, #system integrity protection, #Xcode

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Table of Contents

This post was originally published in July 2022 and updated in June 2026 with current Git and Xcode version information.

Note: You have to already have Homebrew installed in order to install Git with Homebrew.

Using the git alias command when installing Git with Homebrew

Yesterday I updated Xcode on macOS Monterey, and found out that it did not include the latest version of Git. So I decided to re-install it with Homebrew, if I could.

I could, and I did, but it involved a bit of a hack. Since macOS El Capitan, we are not able to make changes to the bin folder due to SIP (System Integrity Protection)1 on our Macs. We have to disable it and then re-enable it after making the changes we need to make. I did not want to have to go through the process of doing this if I could avoid it, and it would have meant more time in doing so. Instead, before I re-installed Git with Homebrew, I created an alias by running the following command in Terminal:

alias git='/usr/local/bin/git'

Then I re-installed Git with Homebrew. I came across the steps toward installation in a GitHub Gist, as well as the git alias workaround. To read through this Gist, please visit Re-installing Git on Mac OSX with Brew on GitHub. I found the alias suggestion from within the comments.

The git alias worked for me and was much quicker to implement, so I stuck with it. I ran the following commands to install Git with Homebrew:

brew uninstall git
brew update
brew install git

The first command did nothing for me, because I had not previously installed Git with Homebrew. I ran the second command to update Homebrew (always recommended before installing something with Homebrew). And the third command actually installed Git with Homebrew.

Installing Git with Homebrew in macOS Tahoe (6.4.26)

I no longer have to use the git alias command to install Git with Homebrew in macOS Tahoe. Now, when Homebrew installs Git, it automatically manages installation and path configuration without risk of multiple conflicting Git installs. This means no need for setting an alias. Now all I have to do is run brew install git.

As a matter of fact, I checked to see if I still had alias git='/usr/local/bin/git' among my list of git aliases by running the git config --get-regexp alias. command which shows all the aliases I have created in my Git config. For me, it returned

alias.st status
alias.ci commit
alias.br branch
alias.co checkout
alias.df diff
... # (abbreviated)

And no alias git='/usr/local/bin/git' was listed!

Checking how Git was installed on your macOS (6.4.26)

Today, I was curious as to how my current version of Git was installed, so I ran which git which returned /opt/homebrew/bin/git.

Then I ran git -v and the output was git version 2.54.0. This was the latest version of Git at the time of this update (6.4.26).

The primary reason behind executing the Git alias command

When I executed the Git alias command alias git='/usr/local/bin/git', it made sure that the version of Git installed in the /usr/local/bin/git path is the one used in Command Line and not any other version that MAY be installed on the machine2. For example, the version of Git installed with Xcode.

Why it is better to install Git using Homebrew vs Xcode (6.4.26)

I prefer installing Git with Homebrew because Git does not update automatically with Xcode. It only updates when you either update Xcode or Command Line Tools, which is a lengthier process. In order to update Git with Homebrew, simply run the commands:

# this makes sure Homebrew is up to date
brew update
# upgrades Git to the latest version
brew upgrade git
# then make sure to restart Terminal to apply the version change.

To confirm your Git upgrade, run the following command in Terminal:

git -v

For me, it returns:

# the latest version of Git at the time of this update (6.4.26).
git version 2.54.0

On the other hand, to get the latest version of Git via Xcode, you would first have to make sure you have the latest available version of Xcode. In order to do that, you have to go to developer.apple.com and check for the latest version of Xcode. For example, today I logged into developer.apple.com to see what the latest version of Xcode is, and it is 26.5. I ran the following command in Terminal to find out what version I have installed:

xcodebuild -version

which returned:

Xcode 26.4
Build version 17E192

To install the latest version of Xcode, I would have to download it from developer.apple.com, delete the previous install of Xcode located in the Applications directory, and then drag the latest version from the Downloads directory into Applications. You can read my slide deck entitled Installing Xcode and/or Command Line Tools on Your Mac, which covers the steps to upgrading to the latest version of Xcode and CLT. As I mentioned earlier, this is a much lengthier process than upgrading to the latest version of Git using Homebrew.

Conclusion

Installing Git with Homebrew is faster and simpler than relying on Xcode. If I were to depend on the Git integrated install that comes with Xcode, I would have to login to the developer.apple.com website, download the latest version of Xcode, delete the previous version from the Applications folder on my desktop and drag the new downloaded version into the Applications folder. However, even updating to the latest version of Xcode still might not guarantee the latest version of Git. Xcode's Command Line Tools can sometimes include older versions of Git, so using Homebrew may deliver a more up-to-date version.

Footnotes

  1. System Integrity Protection (SIP) is a crucial security feature introduced in OS X El Capitan. It is meant to protect the OS from unauthorized modifications. SIP restricts access to system files and directories, ensuring that only processes with specific privileges can modify them. It limits root user actions, which had unrestricted access to all system files prior to El Capitan. Only software signed by Apple or with special privileges can make changes to shielded areas. SIP protects the following directories by default:

    /System: Where core system files and directories reside

    /sbin: Where system binaries for administrative tasks reside

    /bin: Where essential command-line utilities reside

    /usr: Where user system files (except /usr/local) reside

    /Applications: Where pre-installed applications reside ↩

  2. /usr/local/bin/git refers to the macOS Apple Intel path, which applied to Intel Macs. On Apple Silicon, Homebrew installs to /opt/homebrew/bin/git. ↩