How to install Gitk for macOS

Table of Contents

How to install Gitk for macOS

Gitk is an old, but trusted, Git repository browser. On macOS the software is not readily available to the end user, but with the help of a third party package manager such as Homebrew, Gitk can be easily installed.

The following guide takes you through the installation process if you do not yet have Homebrew on your system.

Installation

If Git already exists, as part of your default macOS installation, you will need to override its default search path with the new one provided by the Homebrew installation.

In a shell, type the following command.

$ brew update

==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles-portable-ruby/portable-ruby--2.6.3.mavericks.bottle.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Pouring portable-ruby--2.6.3.mavericks.bottle.tar.gz
Updated 2 taps (homebrew/core and homebrew/cask).

...

Followed by this command.

$ brew install git-gui

Updating Homebrew...
==> Auto-updated Homebrew!

...

Note: If your Git version is older than 2.27, Gitk will be installed instead with brew install git.

We will then verify that Git is pointing to the correct location.

$ type -a git

git is /usr/local/bin/git
git is /usr/bin/git

If the first result is git is /usr/local/bin/git, your brew installation is correct.

On the other hand, if you see the following result, you installation is not pointing to the correct location. Please re-run the update!

$ type -a git

git is /usr/bin/git  # this is wrong path

Once confirmed that your installation is correct, you should be able to launch Gitk simply by typing the following command. Enjoy!

$ gitk

Further Information

For further information on Gitk, type the following command in a shell.

$ man gitk