For a quickstart guide to getting set up with Git on your Mac OSX machine and giving it go follow these 5 easy steps.

After many years using SVN for source control I’ve been lured over to Git, initially with the shiny new Mac client Tower by the fournova quartet, and now starting to really see the power of Git’s features in comparison to SVN.

Git is an extremely fast, efficient, distributed version control system ideal for the collaborative development of software.

Good pros and cons discussions at Stack Overflow and Server Fault but at the end of the day each to his own requirements and preferences.

Step #1 Download Git OSX Installer

http://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/downloads/list

Step #2 Generate SSH Keys

Not absolutely necessary but nice to connect via SSH, otherwise next step.

http://help.github.com/mac-key-setup/

Step #3 Create an online repository

There’s a free account for unlimited public repositories and paid plans for private repositories. Free’s enough to learn more about Git.

https://github.com/plans

Step #4 Trial a Git client for Mac

Quickest way to get started is with a client. Tower comes with a 30 day free trial.

http://www.git-tower.com/

Step #5 Git Reference and Support

For more advanced users working on the command line Git Reference is one of many great references available and put together by the GitHub team.

http://gitref.org/

Or just go straight over to the GitHub team themselves:

http://help.github.com/