Git – Install gitk on Mac

gitgitkmacososx-mountain-lion

Does anyone know how to install gitk on Mac?

From their official website, it seems gitk comes with git, but the version of my git (git version 1.7.12.4 (Apple Git-37)) does not come with gitk.

brew install gitk does not work for gitk.

Version info (copied from comments):

  • OS X 10.8.2 (12C2034) "Mountain Lion"
  • XCode Version 4.6 (4H127)

Best Answer

Correct, the 1.7.12.4 (Apple Git-37) does not come with gitk. You can install a more recent version of git + git-ui as a separate formula by using brew. More thorough instructions located here: http://www.moncefbelyamani.com/how-to-install-xcode-homebrew-git-rvm-ruby-on-mac/ (see this commit extracting git-gui/gitk into its own formula: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/commit/dfa3ccf1e7d3901e371b5140b935839ba9d8b706)

Run the following commands at the terminal:

brew update
brew install git
brew install git-gui

If you get an error indicating it could not link git, then you may need to change permissions/owners of the files it mentions.

Once completed, run:

type -a git

And make sure it shows:

/usr/local/bin/git

If it does not, run:

brew doctor

And make the path change to put /usr/local/bin earlier in the path. Now, gitk should be on your path (along with an updated version of git).