Different between msysgit and cygwin + git ?

Question

Hello What is the different between msysgit and cygwin + git? Now I'm use msysgit, but i don't like the Git Bash (you can't resize or copy/paste) and think about to change to cygwin, because then I could use mintty.

Answer 1

cygwin + git was the only way to make git work back in the day. Now that msysgit is around, I don't see any reason to use cygwin.

I agree git bash isn't that good.. so what I do is

a) Put git in path and use window command prompt when I need command line b) Have tortoise git installed for when I want to have a GUI to my git

Answer 2

The bash implementation in msysgit is old. However, i use vim when editing and that works great. As for cutting and pasting, I often resort to SHIFT+ALT+[space], E, M or whatever the keys are to get to mark text I want. Not ideal, but does the job well enough as I don't cut and paste too much.

I've now started running Ubuntu on the same machine through VirtualBox. With seamless mode and shared folders, I can take advantage of an up to date bash and fast Git.

I do not use any gui tools for Git except gitk (for gitk --all) to visualize history if I need to.

I've tried cygwin and didn't like it. The virtual box solution is much better if msysgit is not enough for you.

Answer 3

a/ You can resize and copy-paste in Git bash, like in any other Windows Shell.

b/ You are probably using "Git for windows", and not msysgit. From the wiki:

• msysGit is the development environment to compile Git for Windows. It is complete, in the sense that you just need to install msysGit, and then you can build Git. Without installing any 3rd-party software.
• Git for Windows is an installer which installs Git -- and only Git.

It is easy to see the difference:

• the installers for Git have the prefix Git-,
• the msysGit installers have the prefix msysGit-.

Another telltale is that the msysGit installers come in two flavors: fullinstall and netinstall.
Further, msysGit does not install to C:\Program Files by default.
But msysGit comes with gcc, the GNU C Compiler.

c/ From MSysGitHerald10:

Remember:

• MinGW is really a very thin compile-time layer over the Microsoft Runtime; MinGW programs are therefore real Windows programs, with no concept of Unix-style paths or POSIX niceties such as a fork() call.
• MSys, in contrast, is a slimmed-down version of Cygwin (an old version at that), whose only purpose is to provide enough of a POSIX layer to run a bash.

And that is not always welcomed:

When working on Windows, I dislike that msysGit, as the name suggests, depends on MSYS and on tools from the Unix world. I believe all programs in the Git distribution should become binaries compiled for a specific platform, and not rely on shell interpreters or third-party languages like Tcl/Tk.

Even though, it is far better than the first Git on Cygwin installations from 2007.