Why is it that if you download Git 2.0 from the net, you always get a 1.9.4 installer package?

Question

Why is it that if you download Git 2.0 from the net, you always get a 1.9.4 installer package? Why can't you just find a Git installer package on the internet anywhere that is not only labeled 2.0+ , but the installation archive you download is also labeled as such?

For example: This 2.1.3 site takes you to this 1.9.4 site download.

Hardpan

It looks like you're on Windows; I don't think that Git 2.x has been officially released for Windows yet, at least not as pre-compiled binaries. – Danell

Ok, thanks. It is not clear that that is the case and the site is misleading, making you think your getting 2.1.3, but you don't. – Hardpan

I have edited my answer below: Git for Windows 2.3.5 is available. – Philippines

Git-For-Windows is now on par with Git itself: 2.4.4 is available. – Philippines

The git-scm.com/download/win will now download the latest Git for Windows (2.6.2 at the time of writing). – Testamentary

Answer 1

Git for Windows is msysgit project. The latest version of this project is 1.9.4 so Git is also 1.9.4 in it. This is official Git installer for Windows.

Also there is a note on download page:

The current source code release is version 2.1.3. If you want the newer version, you can build it from the source code.

So you can build Git 2+ on Windows by yourself.

Millikan

Answer 2

There is a new project called "Git For Windows": https://git-for-windows.github.io/

As I explained, it will replace msysgit, with the phasing out of msysgit (Q4 2015) and the new Git For Windows (Q2 2015).

It has a much more recent bash, based on the 64bits msys2 project, an independent rewrite of MSYS, based on modern Cygwin (POSIX compatibility layer) and MinGW-w64, with the aim of better interoperability with native Windows software.
msys2 comes with its own installer too.

The git bash is now (with the new Git For Windows 2.6.x):

GNU bash, version 4.3.42(2)-release (x86_64-pc-msys)
Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

(as opposed to the old 32-bits msys bash from Git for Windows 1.9.5:
GNU bash, version 3.1.20(4)-release (i686-pc-msys) 2005).

This 4.3 bash comes with the latest patches.

You can install the SDK in order to build a git 2.x.
(The SDK will bring the right git sources)

Update 2015: you now can test on Windows the latest Git releases (2.6.2+ at the moment): https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/.

Philippines

This allowed me to get the latest version of Git on windows using an installer. Wish I'd seen it sooner. – Legnica

Thank you for pointing this out. I wonder why on the official Git page they still offer that old Git for Windows installer. – Indocile

@Indocile because git-for-windows is still consider not stable enough: github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/12#issuecomment-111185468. Hopefully, a full switch might occur for Git 2.5. – Philippines

@Philippines perhaps update and point to the new homepage on git-for-windows.github.io - the git-scm.com downloads now also point to these new builds anyhow. – Testamentary

@ThomasFerrisNicolaisen Thank you: here is my edit for your review: stackoverflow.com/posts/26826359/revisions. Note that you can also edit any answer you want (your edit will be reviewed, but you are so close to stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/edit) – Philippines