4 ms·

If you run the default Git windows installer, it installs something called "Git bash" which is basically msys (part of mingw) with git included, which gives you

If you run the default Git windows installer, it installs something called "Git bash" which is basically msys (part of mingw) with git included, which gives you command line access to git very easily. If you want to teach them the CLI way from the start, that is the way to go.

mikevm 12y ago
I believe that "Git for Windows" has been EOL'd in favor of https://github.com/git-for-windows/sdk https://github.com/git-for-windows/sdk (which hasn't seen a first official release yet).
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  >This is an Inno Setup based wrapper around MinGW's mingw-get which installs a development environment for building Git for Windows using GCC. This installs the dependencies and environment needed for building Git from source. I think that's overkill for most users.
ethomson 12y ago
You can teach them how to use the git command-line interface without forcing them to use Bash, though. Nothing wrong with simply putting `git` in your path.
- girvo 12y ago
  As someone who used Windows for development for a long time, depending on what languages they're learning, using Bash is a much better idea than `cmd.exe` or PowerShell. The latter is quite nice, but when you're using *nix based software, the differences between the two are great enough to cause (at least for me personally) a bit of confusion.
  - ethomson 12y ago
    I'm coming from it from the other direction: I'm a long time Unix guy who has crash landed on Windows. I find any Unix-like environment on Windows to just be an atrocity. Cygwin and mingw are both embarrassing compromises that are so middling as to be nearly pointless. And I like the Bourne shell syntax. It seems cruel to make somebody relearn their command-line interface only to give them the neutered, confused interface that Git Bash provides.

4 ms·

If you run the default Git windows installer, it installs something called "Git bash" which is basically msys (part of mingw) with git included, which gives you

by raziel2p 12y ago

mikevm 12y ago
I believe that "Git for Windows" has been EOL'd in favor of https://github.com/git-for-windows/sdk https://github.com/git-for-windows/sdk (which hasn't seen a first official release yet).
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  >This is an Inno Setup based wrapper around MinGW's mingw-get which installs a development environment for building Git for Windows using GCC. This installs the dependencies and environment needed for building Git from source. I think that's overkill for most users.
ethomson 12y ago
You can teach them how to use the git command-line interface without forcing them to use Bash, though. Nothing wrong with simply putting `git` in your path.
- girvo 12y ago
  As someone who used Windows for development for a long time, depending on what languages they're learning, using Bash is a much better idea than `cmd.exe` or PowerShell. The latter is quite nice, but when you're using *nix based software, the differences between the two are great enough to cause (at least for me personally) a bit of confusion.
  - ethomson 12y ago
    I'm coming from it from the other direction: I'm a long time Unix guy who has crash landed on Windows. I find any Unix-like environment on Windows to just be an atrocity. Cygwin and mingw are both embarrassing compromises that are so middling as to be nearly pointless. And I like the Bourne shell syntax. It seems cruel to make somebody relearn their command-line interface only to give them the neutered, confused interface that Git Bash provides.