183

Every time I enter in my command window

git lfs install

the message I get is git: 'lfs' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.

I tried looking up for a solution, but none of the answers were clear. Can someone explain clear how to fix this?

Benjamin Loison
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bockdavidson
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    on Ubuntu I had forgot to complete the install... `sudo apt-get install git-lfs` see: https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/wiki/Installation – CrandellWS Jan 30 '21 at 16:28

9 Answers9

279

It looks like you haven't downloaded git-lfs on your machine, so git lfs install isn't a registered command by git.

Install git-lfs as outlined below:

1. Pre-Requisites

  • git-lfs requires git version 1.8.3.1 or later. You can check the version you have by running git --version, and update if required.
  • If you are installing on macOS, make sure you have Homebrew installed.

2. Download

Download git-lfs by following the steps based on your operating system.

Debian / Ubuntu

$ curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
$ sudo apt-get install git-lfs

MacOS (Using Homebrew)

$ brew update
$ brew install git-lfs

Windows

Download and run the latest windows installer.

3. Install

Finally, run git-lfs install to install git-lfs on your system. You can always run git-lfs uninstall to uninstall.

More detailed information (such as for installation on other platforms) can be found on git-lfs's installation page.

cyn
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    I did install the git lfs, but it is still saying that message – bockdavidson Feb 11 '18 at 17:36
  • What operating system are you using? – cyn Feb 11 '18 at 17:38
  • we still have some Windows XP here and installer doesnt work there. adding git-lfs to PATH didn't help either – YaP Jan 16 '20 at 16:04
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    update to this: you need to install a (old) proper version for windows XP 32 bit. I contacted developers and the last one supporting this OS is git-lfs-windows-v2.5.0 – YaP Feb 27 '20 at 11:19
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    I was going through https://git-lfs.github.com/ & surprised why the `sudo apt-get install git-lfs` command was not there! Anyway, thank you so much for the answer! – Aqeeb Imtiaz Harun Nov 02 '21 at 08:34
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    Why does the [quick install page on packagecloud](https://packagecloud.io/github/git-lfs/install) just have the `curl` command, but not the `sudo apt-get install git-lfs` command, which is quite important. – Ben Butterworth Jan 18 '22 at 06:15
30

You can't directly use

git lfs install

Instead of that, you can use these commands to download and install (you have to download it before installing).

sudo apt-get install git-lfs
git-lfs install
vvvvv
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chamod rathnayake
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9

Here is a solution for people installing git-lfs on a system without "sudo". Basically, it is to download the latest tarball (from here), uncompress it, add it to your environment PATH, and install it to git. It worked for me, at least.

wget https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/releases/download/v3.2.0/git-lfs-linux-amd64-v3.2.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf git-lfs-linux-amd64-v3.2.0.tar.gz
PATH=$PATH:/export/fs04/a12/rhuang/git-lfs-3.2.0/
git lfs install
git lfs version
Ray
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8

In addition to "arct" answer, if you have an M1 Silicone Mac, you must use the following to install it using homebrew

arch -arm64 brew install git-lfs
LOTUSMS
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5

none of those pages specify how to install. They just say download and install. I'm running in circles here. Quite frustrating. Download and install, but no mention in getting started as to HOW to install.

"Download and install the Git command line extension. Once downloaded and installed, set up Git LFS for your user account by running: git lfs install"

Sure I can download, but nothing I'm attempting will install. Brew won't recognize the commands, nor will mac port. cd to the location of the folder. Attempt again. Nothing. Not even when running git-lfs from the download and reading those directions is there any clarity. "To get started with Git LFS, the following commands can be used..." They don't work. Can't enter commands in the git-lfs window, nor are they recognized in bash.

Thanks.

Had to go here to find an answer to that assumed process:

https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/run-shell-sh-script-on-macos/

How to run a Shell or .sh script on macOS

cd ~/Downloads/git-lfs-darwin-amd64-v2.13.2

chmod +x install.sh

sh install.sh

Andrew Taylor
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4

LFS is not part of Git, it needs to be installed separately. See the Git LFS site. Following the 'Getting Started' instructions for your platform should resolve the issue.

Charles Mager
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2

Note if you are on Apple Silicon (eg M1), and using homebrew installed in the default way, homebrew will be installed at /opt/homebrew. (See https://docs.brew.sh/Installation).

This path (/opt/homebrew) is not part of the default PATH env variable. Looks like this causes issues in git recognizing lfs in subsequent git lfs ... commands.

Fix is to include it in the path: export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin. And then do the git lfs ... operations.

Vivek
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1

On Arch Linux, sudo pacman -S git-lfs

Dr-Bracket
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0

I had this when building with Atlassian Bamboo and the resolution was to build first time without lfs checked (advanced options). After that you can go back and select lfs and it fetches fine from git without the lfs error.

Tim Fosh
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