Microsoft Releases WinGet 1.4 For Improving Its Open-Source Package Manager

[WereCatf]

Try reading.
Scroll back to my first comment.
Click on the link.

So, the complaints are about using it in an enterprise-setting and the conclusion wasn't that "it sucks." Well, then.

[rogerx]

Ignoring your chidlish diatribe, Winget doesn't install Windows-updates, so that part is just simply wrong. Winget is for managing installed applications, not Windows itself.

... and as such, never understood the usefulness for winget. And likely never will.

On the flip, on later recall, I likely did understand this on my first use of winget awhile ago, and think I "chalked it up" as another good example of Microsoft poorly documenting code, getting our hopes up for a better Windows update.

[uid313]

Maybe they should make a command-line application for interacting with the Windows Store, to be able to install/uninstall software in batch from there without using the UI.

Another idea is a package manager for ISO install files, example: iso-get ubuntu-22.10 or iso-get ubuntu-latest.
Another idea is a package manager for virtual machines, example vm-get fedora-37 or vm-get fedora-latest.

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

You don't read the other comments, do you?

Oh I read them. That's why I called them dumbass comments.

WinGet sucks compared to other package managers availableon Windows.

Meh. It allows you to search, install, list, uninstall apps from the command line. It's built in. It has a large pool of available software. Chocolatey existing and being good doesn't mean Windows shouldn't have a compelling option built in that works out of the box.

Scoop and Chocolatey are good examples. Then there is/was NuGet, Npackd, Ninite, and others. WinGet only got an uninstall command in 2021 and is still struggling feature-wise.

LOL. It was pre-release software that first came out in 2020. They added the ability to uninstall all apps (not just those installed via winget) in version 0.3 in 2021. Are you arguing against iterative development?

Which is surprising given that Microsoft, the guys creating Windows, are responsible for WinGet and are starting to include it with their OS. Now that's a method to discourage the competition, but not based on offering something better.

Again, being built in and working out of the box and officially supported by your OS vendor is the entire point.

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

Maybe they should make a command-line application for interacting with the Windows Store, to be able to install/uninstall software in batch from there without using the UI.

There are two sources out of the box, and one of them is the Microsoft Store.

PS C:\Users\foo> winget source list
Name Argument
-----------------------------------------------------
msstore https://storeedgefd.dsx.mp.microsoft.com/v9.0
winget https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache​


PS C:\Users\foo> winget search windbg
Name Id Version Source
--------------------------------------------
WinDbg Preview 9PGJGD53TN86 Unknown msstore​

[geearf]

Meh. It allows you to search, install, list, uninstall apps from the command line. It's built in. It has a large pool of available software. Chocolatey existing and being good doesn't mean Windows shouldn't have a compelling option built in that works out of the box.

Couldn't they just bundle Chocolatey (or another) with Windows and help with upstream instead of doing another one?

[Spacefish]

I think windows needs a proper package format first..
The .msi format is not that great IMHO, an msi installer can even run UIs during an install, which leads to really stupid things, like being unable to install a headless server application on a headless windows server, as the installer tries to show some UI with advertisment or something like that..

It´s really hard to create .msi packages as well, they use some sort of tables inside them, with components which get registered in your registry during install.. If you have a new MSI it tries to only update the components which really changed, this can lead to completly inconsistent install states of software, if the component versions aren´t choosen carefully and such.

Microsoft introduced .appx with windows 8, a simply package format, which can be compared to .deb or .rpms, granted they use XML as a manifest, but otherwise pretty comparable featurewise..
But then they pulled the microsoft on it and disallowed installing .appx packages manually, but only via the Store from their Cloud Backend ^^ (unless you manually activate some hidden developer settings and such)

Look at their Visual Studio installer b.t.w., they even did not use their own shit there, but implemented a whole new packages manager just for Visual Studio, which has it´s own manifests and package formats + installer scripts.. That´s how much they embrace .msi or appx

[tracker1]

Compared to chocolatey and scoop... It gets the job done.

Most good application installers can run headless with command line parameters, many can't. That's not expression a Microsoft problem.

WinGet simply downloads and runs installers for applications. It makes installing a list of applications much easier than going to various websites and clicking around. You don't have to worry about accidentally clicking a malicious ad.

It really should have existed a decade ago. It's also from the vendor and likely to get less resistance from IT snobs.

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

Couldn't they just bundle Chocolatey (or another) with Windows and help with upstream instead of doing another one?

Package Management has always been a total mess on Windows. This is a strategic thing to fix, with winget to date just being the first step and addressing the low hanging fruit (grab existing installer, verify hash, run it silently if supported). I wouldn't expect Red Hat to give up on DNF or their packaging build / deployment infrastructure just because some 3rd party solution existed. This stuff is important, and it's reasonable for the OS vendor to want to own it.

[patstew]

I prefer winget to chocolatey. I find that lots of choco packages have bizarre install scripts that fail to install or update, or install in an odd location, or mess up your path or something. Winget packages tend to just work, and scoop is useful for the little command line utils that aren't in winget.