this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
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I thought WSL2 had a few specific advantages over WSL1, something about disk writes and/or Docker? But yeah, WSL1 was such a cool concept. My understanding is they implemented all the syscalls and API in it so it's basically native.
I tried to use them, as I do most tools like that. On Windows I have always stuck with the MSYS environment that Git for Windows gives you. It's easy enough to work with and has most everything I care about. Plus it's easy to set up. With wsl it's more like a separate thing, it wasn't as easy to run in place. A lot of times I still used batch or powershell scripts so it wasn't totally bash. Like Docker is easier to use from not bash in Windows because the syntax is so wonky.
But now I don't use Windows at all.
I've recently started using windows again for work, after not touching it for like 15 years, msys2 makes it tolerable.
I'm a devops engineer, and my company won't allow me to use WSL. Go figure.
Uh.. But that's what it's for? Like it's it's primary purpose..? They created it for devops..? What are they smoking?
Msys2 was not created for devops, I just happen to be a devops engineer who uses it. Their websites describes it as:
Because it makes software building, packaging and distributing as simple aand standardised as it is on Linux, it means they effectively have a very good CLI on their hands. On my work laptop, I now use WezTerm with fish shell and helix editor for my workflow, and live in the terminal. Would this be possible to do without msys2 or wsl? Yes, but it would be a huge pain.
It's like telling a car mechanic to not use duct tape imo
I don't follow
MSYS2 is odd, I could never figure out how to set it up a sort from the one with Git. When I was more of a power user I used Cygwin. Babun is cool but unmaintained last I remember, and is just Cygwin with some enhancements.
As much shit as MS gets (and rightfully so) around 2019 they began turning their reputation around for dev stuff. They've lost all that good will though.
That's because the one provided with git is a nerfed version of msys2. If you install msys2 as a standalone thing from their website, you get everything you need for a functional CLI on windows. Most importantly, you get a real package manager and decently populated repositories.
I had a typo. I meant "apart from the one with Git"