I have previously posted how to compile git on Ubuntu but while using git I wanted to consulte the manual to get information about some commands and git help didn’t work. It seems that you have to manually specify when compiling that you want to have documentation included too.

Here’s how to do that. Go to the directory where you have unarchived git sources and type:

make doc
sudo make install-doc

You can also combine them when you compile git:

make all doc
sudo make install install-doc

Updated with the latest git release 1.5.5.1

I am using Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy and use git a lot, the latest version in gutsy repository is 1.5.2.5 but the latest version of Git is 1.5.5.1 so here’s a quick tip for compiling git.

First remove git if you have installed it from repositories:
sudo apt-get remove git git-svn

Then go into a temporary folder where you will download and compile git:
wget http://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/git-1.5.5.1.tar.bz2
sudo apt-get build-dep git-core
tar xjf git-1.5.5.1.tar.bz2
cd git-1.5.5.1/
./configure
make
sudo make install
If you have a dual core CPU and want to use them both to compile faster use make -j2 instead of make

Now enjoy your hand compiled git

PS: For git gui I had to to install tk (sudo apt-get install tk).