diff --git a/scripts/vcpkgTools.xml b/scripts/vcpkgTools.xml
index 1a2abae81..1f17102d2 100644
--- a/scripts/vcpkgTools.xml
+++ b/scripts/vcpkgTools.xml
@@ -28,6 +28,18 @@
         <sha512>a34575ab1b4f553e62535e38492904b512df4d6a837cf4abf205dbcdd05edf1eef450cc5b15a4f63f901424d5f3cd1f78b6b22437d0d4f8cd9ce4e42e82617b9</sha512>
         <archiveName>MinGit-2.17.0-32-bit.zip</archiveName>
     </tool>
+    <tool name="git" os="linux">
+        <version>2.7.4</version>
+        <exeRelativePath></exeRelativePath>
+        <url></url>
+        <sha512></sha512>
+    </tool>
+    <tool name="git" os="osx">
+        <version>2.7.4</version>
+        <exeRelativePath></exeRelativePath>
+        <url></url>
+        <sha512></sha512>
+    </tool>
     <tool name="vswhere" os="windows">
         <version>2.4.1</version>
         <exeRelativePath>vswhere.exe</exeRelativePath>
diff --git a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/commands.fetch.cpp b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/commands.fetch.cpp
index 1e31e6bc4..a6cfec3f0 100644
--- a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/commands.fetch.cpp
+++ b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/commands.fetch.cpp
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ namespace vcpkg::Commands::Fetch
                                right_delim,
                                XML_PATH.generic_string());
 
-            return *result.get();
+            auto r = *result.get();
+            return Strings::trim(std::move(r));
         };
 
         static const std::regex XML_VERSION_REGEX{R"###(<tools[\s]+version="([^"]+)">)###"};
@@ -255,8 +256,8 @@ namespace vcpkg::Commands::Fetch
         const std::string download_path_part = download_path.u8string() + ".part";
         std::error_code ec;
         fs.remove(download_path_part, ec);
-        const auto code = System::cmd_execute(Strings::format(
-            R"(curl -L '%s' --create-dirs --output '%s')", url, download_path_part));
+        const auto code = System::cmd_execute(
+            Strings::format(R"(curl -L '%s' --create-dirs --output '%s')", url, download_path_part));
         Checks::check_exit(VCPKG_LINE_INFO, code == 0, "Could not download %s", url);
 
         verify_hash(paths, url, download_path_part, sha512);
@@ -267,8 +268,13 @@ namespace vcpkg::Commands::Fetch
     static fs::path fetch_tool(const VcpkgPaths& paths, const std::string& tool_name, const ToolData& tool_data)
     {
         const std::array<int, 3>& version = tool_data.version;
-
         const std::string version_as_string = Strings::format("%d.%d.%d", version[0], version[1], version[2]);
+        Checks::check_exit(VCPKG_LINE_INFO,
+                           !tool_data.url.empty(),
+                           "A suitable version of %s was not found (required v%s) and unable to automatically "
+                           "download a portable one. Please install a newer version of git.",
+                           tool_name,
+                           version_as_string);
         System::println("A suitable version of %s was not found (required v%s). Downloading portable %s v%s...",
                         tool_name,
                         version_as_string,
@@ -401,11 +407,7 @@ namespace vcpkg::Commands::Fetch
 
     static fs::path get_git_path(const VcpkgPaths& paths)
     {
-#if defined(_WIN32)
         static const ToolData TOOL_DATA = parse_tool_data_from_xml(paths, "git");
-#else
-        static const ToolData TOOL_DATA = ToolData{{2, 7, 4}, ""};
-#endif
         static const std::string VERSION_CHECK_ARGUMENTS = "--version";
 
         std::vector<fs::path> candidate_paths;