Migrating Pacman to Git for Windows and Installing zsh, tmux, etc.
Introduction
I previously installed the Scoop package manager on my computer, but since Windows can't install certain applications, and I don't want to install WSL, I found out that I can create a Unix-like environment and command-line interface using tools like Cygwin or MSYS2. Notably, Git for Windows comes pre-packaged with a minimal MSYS2 environment called Git BASH, so I decided to give it a try.
Installing Git for Windows
Download Link: https://gitforwindows.org/
(If you already have this essential software installed, you can skip this step.)
Preparing Binary Files
Download
You can find pacman in the MSYS2 package repository: https://packages.msys2.org/package/pacman?repo=msys&variant=x86_64
Download the corresponding pkg.tar.zst file and all Dependencies corresponding pkg.tar.zst files to the Git installation directory. The core files generally include:pacman, gnupg, msys2-keyring, pacman-mirrors, zstd, etc.
Extract
Since Scoop is already installed, you can use Scoop to install zstd. If not, please visit the official website.
scoop install zstdExtract the files using:
zstd -d *.zst
for file in *.tar; do
tar xvf "$file" -C /
doneInitialization
pacman-key --init && pacman-key --populate msys2Usage
pacman -Sytmux
pacman -S tmux --overwrite "*"zsh-related
Install zsh:
pacman -S zsh --overwrite "*"Set zsh as the default shell:
vim ~/.bashrcAdd the following:
# Launch Zsh
if [ -t 1 ]; then
exec zsh
fiInstall Oh My Zsh:
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"Download plugins like Zsh-Autosuggestions, Zsh-Syntax-Highlighting, etc.:
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlightingConfigure .zshrc:
vim ~/.zshrcAdd or modify:
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)Then, apply the changes:
source .zshrcAdditional Notes
- Installing MSYS2 directly and using
pacmanto install Git can completely skip these steps. If you encounter the error
failed to synchronize all databases (invalid or corrupted database (PGP signature))orerror: mingw32: signature from "Christoph Reiter (MSYS2 master key) <[email protected]>" is unknown trust, ensure that all dependencies are fully downloaded and extracted to the correct location. Alternatively, you can try:rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/Then reinitialize.
