TL;DR
For software developers, try out the command-line management tool in Windows: Scoop https://scoop.sh/
Update (2021-09-26)
Windows has introduced
winget. Check it out at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/
Link: https://scoop.sh/
I always envied Debian Linux package manager, apt (used to be apt-get). It is a command-line package management tool to install programs. For a Windows user, it may be an unpleasant experience to install on a dark Terminal window with a bunch of lines scrolling fast (too fast) that you can’t make any sense of. A non-tech user might feel uneasy with some texts scrolling up too fast.
With an installer, Windows is like getting a gift package. That is when the package is open with a double-click, it makes the user feel confident about what’ll be installed.
For a developer, I need to install many apps. For the first time setup, that’s OK. Let’s start with the five apps
- git for Windows
- tortoiseGit for Windows (git client)
- Visual Studio
- Visual Studio Code
- nodejs & npm
Everything except the first has its way of managing updates. That is, with the frequent update process (continuous delivery), the apps has easy way to update. MS Edge or Chrome browsers has automatic update once installed as well.
For developers, scoop might come in handy when installing tools and setting up a development environment.
want to install 7-zip? scoop it!
C:\> scoop install 7zip
Installing '7zip' (19.00) \[64bit\]
7z1900-x64.msi (1.7 MB) \[=====================================================================================\] 100%
Checking hash of 7z1900-x64.msi ... ok.
Extracting 7z1900-x64.msi ... done.
Linking ~\scoop\apps\7zip\current => ~\scoop\apps\7zip\19.00
Creating shim for '7z'.
Creating shortcut for 7-Zip (7zFM.exe)
'7zip' (19.00) was installed successfully!Sweet, it checked MD5 hash which is an extra hassle when installing. Paranoid if I skip the checking step.
You can search for an app you might want. You may need to add other buckets or create your own.
Here, I’m installing emacs.
scoop search emacs
Results from other known buckets…
(add them using ‘scoop bucket add
‘extras’ bucket: bucket/emacs
It shows that you need to add a bucket. Let’s do that and install again.
scoop bucket add extras
Checking repo… ok The extras bucket was added successfully.
scoop install emacs
Installing 'emacs' (26.3) \[64bit\]
emacs-26.3-x86\_64.zip (215.2 MB) \[==============================================\] 100%
Checking hash of emacs-26.3-x86\_64.zip ... ok.
Extracting emacs-26.3-x86\_64.zip ... done.
Linking ~\scoop\apps\emacs\current => ~\scoop\apps\emacs\26.3
Creating shim for 'runemacs'.
Creating shim for 'emacs'.
Creating shim for 'emacsclientw'.
Creating shim for 'etags'.
Creating shim for 'ctags'.
Creating shortcut for Emacs (runemacs.exe)
Creating shortcut for Emacs Client (emacsclientw.exe)
'emacs' (26.3) was installed successfully!Happy scooping!