Windows – How to add more commands to Git Bash

git-bashwindows

I am working on windows machine and I use bash shell which comes with Git. But there are many utilities which are missing in this version of bash shell.

How can I install more commands on this shell?

Best Answer

There are two versions of Git that you are likely to be using - the msysgit distribution or Cygwin.

Installing Additional Utilities For Cygwin

Although you might have only installed Git as a part of your Cygwin install (if you used Cygwin), Cygwin has a program called setup.exe which you can use to add packages. Essentially, all you have to do is run setup.exe and pick out what programs you want installed when you get to the Select Packages window. The introduction here provides a good overview with images that detail the process.

Cygwin's installer is smart enough to figure out that you have a preexisting installation, and it will add packages to your installation (instead of nuking it and starting over).

MSYS

The other version of Git you are probably using (if not Cygwin) is msysgit. Because msysgit installs a minimal Unix environment which is not really compatible with MinGW, you'll end up having to install the MinGW suite beside msysgit. The MinGW Getting Started page gives a detailed overview on how to go about getting MinGW installed - since I have no experience with MinGW personally, all I can really do is refer you to their instructions.

You'll then have to migrate your msysgit installation into MinGW. This can be accomplished by doing the following (taken from here). After the following sequence is done, MinGW should find your Git installation.

cd GITDIR # Where GITDIR is wherever inside Program Files you put Git
cp bin/git* /MINGW/bin # Where MINGW is wherever you put MinGW
cp -r libexec/git* /MINGW/libexec
cp -r share/git* /MINGW/share
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