There are a few toolsets for Unix functionality under Microsoft Windows. And there are other options altogether.
For tools only, the simplest way to go is just to create a \bin and \usr\local\bin and all the rest on your C drive. Selectively add them to your path with BAT or CMD or WSF files or leave them tagged on the end of your ‘user’ PATH environment variable. You might want to grab a zsh and a bash and a grep for starters. But you will be missing the little-known gem of unix, which is screen.
The next step up is to get the minimal GNU Mingw Msys installed. This may mean occasionally setting your ‘CC’ env var to being just empty with
set CC=
but that should be the worst pain you encounter until you need a make.exe which is not Mingw and not nmake.exe That is why I am working on tools for my web site at make-config.net.
But I cannot get GNU screen to run under mingw Msys; please POST if you know how …
Then there is what so many loathe: installing Cygwin. This means running cygwin’s current setup.exe from the Cygwin homepage, selecting a source repository, a local repository and just getting things right enough after the install that you can start building everything that is wrong, missing, out-dated or broken. It’s just the reality.
It could be worse. You could opt for UWIN from AT&T research. At one time I had some dealing with the 3B2 boxes for AT&T unix, so I could be biased. And I refuse to provide a link to their web site for UWIN.
Some think that ‘research’ languages are those which either don’t behave or don’t compile or don’t link or weren’t intended to do one or more of the above. But what about Windows tools for Unix-functionality from a one-time major player?
Imagine that the webmaster at sourceforge develops a READ-THIS-LICENSE monomania and forces you to register with a login name that MUST START with I-READ-THE-LICENSE_.
We might live with it if sourceforge were otherwise unaffected. But suppose that it also meant that first you couldn’t find any download links and then those you found were broken and Oh why did I not embrace Ruby the night we first met !?!
There are issues elsewhere (not at rubyforge, in my experience) such as my recent failure at Cincom’s public repository to get a working BottomFeeder to install. Or when I make the mistake of using an MSI for a Windows install from ActiveState. But UWIN.
They give the notion that ‘having a plan B is a good idea’ something of a bad name.
If you ever are able to layout 7 simple steps to download a UWIN package, please POST to somewhere public IFF said packages, in fact, run on, say, XP SP2. I fear you will end up with 12 steps. Not to bash ash and ksh. Not at all. UWIN. I leave.
