Can't use homebrew installed git

Question

I'm encountering a really weird issue when I try to use the latest version of git I just installed via homebrew. which git is pointing me to the homebrew install, but calling git returns the original version installed with OS X.

I checked first to see the original version I was on.

[user@home ~]$ git --version
git version 1.8.5.2 (Apple Git-48)

Then I went to homebrew to install the latest version.

[user@home ~]$ brew install git
==> Downloading https://downloads.sf.net/project/machomebrew/Bottles/git-2.0.0.mavericks.bottle.2.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Pouring git-2.0.0.mavericks.bottle.2.tar.gz
==> Caveats
The OS X keychain credential helper has been installed to:
  /usr/local/bin/git-credential-osxkeychain

The 'contrib' directory has been installed to:
  /usr/local/share/git-core/contrib

Bash completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d

zsh completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions
==> Summary
  /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.0.0: 1324 files, 31M

Looks like it worked! Check that it's pointing to the correct git

[user@home ~]$ which git
/usr/local/bin/git

Should be good, right? Not so fast

[user@home ~]$ git --version
git version 1.8.5.2 (Apple Git-48)

That's weird. Am I really pointing to the right git?

[user@home ~]$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/git
lrwxr-xr-x  1 user  group  27 Jul  3 15:54 /usr/local/bin/git -> ../Cellar/git/2.0.0/bin/git

Sure looks like it. Works when I call it manually

[user@home ~]$ /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.0.0/bin/git --version
git version 2.0.0

But not as git

[user@home ~]$ which git
/usr/local/bin/git
[user@home ~]$ git --version
git version 1.8.5.2 (Apple Git-48)

Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

EDIT: Solved it. source .bashrc fixed it. Still curious as to why which would return me the correct executable but it wouldn't be called though, if anyone can explain that.

Answer 1

Shells maintain a cache of the paths where executables were found in the $PATH variable. So it cached /usr/bin/git rather than /usr/local/bin/git, because the latter didn't exist when your shell started. Running hash -r in Bash from your current terminal will clear this cache, then the first instance found in $PATH should be the one that executes.

Answer 2

I got the exact same problem. Here is my solution.

brew uninstall git
# make sure everything is alright, maybe brew will give you some hint
brew doctor
brew update  
brew install git
# magic happen, brew will give you hint /usr/bin occurs before /usr/local/bin
# and recommend you run following command
brew doctor
echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

After that you are done, however you are not able to see any changes when you run git --version. Just log out and log back in, run git --version again.

Answer 3

I have the same problem. I simply restarted my Terminal.

Answer 4

My problem was that I had the Mac GitHub app installed. /usr/local/bin/git was pointing to the app's version of git, not the Homebrew version. Uninstalling the GitHub app fixed the issue for me.

Answer 5

When using homebrew to update git on your machine, follow the following steps:

brew doctor

Fix the suggested issues

brew update if there is a newer version of homebrew available

brew install git to download and install git's latest version

running brew doctor will let you know that

Warning: You have unlinked kegs in your Cellar

executing brew link git will result in the error

Error: Could not symlink bin/git

Target /usr/local/bin/git already exists. You may want to remove it:

rm '/usr/local/bin/git'

brew link --overwrite git to overwrite the symlink and point to the git brew installed.

Answer 6

Open your terminal. Enter this command.

sudo nano /etc/paths

Then copy the following path in top of file.

/usr/local/git/bin

Press control+ X and save.

Check git --version

Works for me.