MSYS2

MSYS2, an independent rewrite of MSYS, is a collection of standard Unix and Linux utilities, tools and libraries that you can put on Windows. Based on modern Cygwin and MinGW-w64, MSYS2 aims for superior interoperability with Windows software. And it provides just that via shells, dev tools, and version control system programs. Because it offers tools such as GCC and Clang, it's quite useful as a way of compiling Windows versions of Unix-like programs, by using MinGW-w64 toolchains.

The name is a shortening of Minimal SYStem 2. You have to know standard Unix commands, but if you do, the Bash shell is easy to work with, and commands are quick and responsive. And because MSYS2 offers a package management system - a port of Arch Linux's Pacman - package installation is easy, and it adds many powerful features, including dependency resolution, simple complete system upgrades, and package building that's straightforward.

Installation and setup are also not that complicated. MSYS2 is distributed as a 64-bit installer (with a separate ARM64 build); the old 32-bit variant was discontinued in 2020, so by default MSYS2 is installed in C:\msys64. You'll also find an "MSYS2" folder in your Start Menu with shortcuts for its environments, such as UCRT64 (the default), MINGW64, CLANG64 and MSYS. Each environment uses its own compiler and C runtime (GCC or Clang, MSVCRT or UCRT), so you can choose how your software is built. Click one, and you'll launch your Bash shell. The shortcut actually doesn't use Windows' default console window. Instead, it uses a terminal emulator named mintty to run everything.

From there, if you add the MSYS2 bin folders to the PATH environment variable, you can actually access MSYS2 tools from anywhere, including both Windows Command Prompt and the Run (Win+R) box, meaning you can start using Unix commands in Windows Command Prompt as a sort of Unix shell.

If you're a diehard Unix fan, this may not quite be enough for you, but if the standard Windows command line just doesn't quite cut it and you want capable Unix-like tools integrated into your Windows system, MSYS2 is a helpful program that's relatively easy to set up and use. It quickly integrates Unix-like commands and packages into any modern Windows station. And since it's free, open source and offers more than 3,700 pre-built packages, it's at least worth a try if you're on the fence.

Features:

• Dependency resolution
• Based on modern Cygwin
• Easy installation of packages
• More than 3,700 pre-built FOSS packages
• 64-bit x86 and ARM64 installers

A collection of standard Unix/Linux utilities ported to Windows