Set up Windows dev environment with MSYS2

MSYS2

Note: $VARS refer to strings you should substitute yourself. E.g. $DEV -> D:/dev

1. Download from http://msys2.github.io
2. Install into $DEV/msys64
3. Run $DEV/msys2_shell.cmd
4. Run pacman -Syuu
5. Close the shell; reopen it, and run pacman -Syuu again, just in case :p

Pacman

pacman is the package manager bundled with msys. Use it to install useful things like gcc, flex, bison, git. The commands are pretty cryptic, so use the Pacman/Rosetta.

Set up $PATH

• Open "Environment Variables > System Variables > Path"
• At the end, add $DEV/msys64/usr/bin

Set up $HOME

By default, msys will use $DEV/msys64/home as your home folder. If you want to use your existing home folder, set a $HOME env variable:

• Under "Environment Variables > User variables", add HOME -> %USERPROFILE%

Then edit $DEV/msys64/etc/nsswitch.conf to set db_home: /%H.

Also, SSH insists on using MSYS' /home, but you can get around that by adding this line to /etc/fstab:

C:/Users /home ntfs binary,noacl,auto 1 1

Git

1. Open an msys shell
2. Run pacman -S git
3. If you want to use git gui/gitk,
   1. Run pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-tk
   2. Add $DEV/msys64/mingw64/bin to $PATH

Problems with git gui

You might get this problem with git gui; to fix, add env var GIT_GUI_LIB_DIR -> $DEV/msys64/usr/share/git-gui/lib.

If you get the Error: fatal: invalid path /home/..., you need to patch $DEV/msys64/usr/lib/git-core/git-gui:

1. Find this section (around line 2174):

   if {!$is_submodule} {
       if {![is_bare]} {
           cd $_gitworktree
   

   and replace cd $_gitworktree with cd [exec cygpath --windows $_gitworktree]
2. Find this section (around line 1328):

   set env(GIT_DIR) $_gitdir
   set env(GIT_WORK_TREE) $_gitworktree
   

   and, before those two lines, add set _gitworktree [exec cygpath --unix $_gitworktree]
3. (You'll need to apply these changes every time you update Git.)

MSYS shell

$DEV/msys64/*_shell.cmd opens $DEV/msys64/usr/bin/mintty.exe, which has problems with the Python installed by the official Python installers. If you prefer, you can use $DEV/msys64/usr/bin/bash.exe by making a shortcut to it (on your desktop, for example).

To customize:

1. (right-click shortcut) > Properties
2. Change "Shortcut > Start in:" to be the directory you want it to open to, e.g. %HOME%/Desktop
3. Fiddle with settings in Options, Font, Layout, and Colors

Environment Variables

Environment variables in windows are under:

• (right-click start) > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced > Environment Variables...

You can also set env vars in your .bash_profile/.bashrc.

Python

Dealing with PEP8-ers

Create tabspace filter:

git config --global filter.tabspace.smudge '/usr/bin/unexpand --tabs=4 --first-only'
git config --global filter.tabspace.clean '/usr/bin/expand --tabs=4 --initial'

Then in the repo's .git/info/attributes, add:

*.py  filter=tabspace

Then, in your (clean; if not, stash) repo do:

rm .git/index
git checkout HEAD -- "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"

Virtualenv

To use virtualenvs without the activate/deactivate nonsense, in your .bashrc add:

PYROOT=/path/to/your/python/install

function py {
	if [ -d ".venv" ]; then
		local PRE=.venv/Scripts
	else
		local PRE=$PYROOT
	fi
	$PRE/python "$@"
}

function pyp {
	py -m pip "$@"
}

and use py instead of python (and pyp instead of pip) from now on. To help enforce this, you should also add:

function pip {
	echo "Don't use \`pip\`. Use \`pyp\` or \`py -m pip\`."
}

function python {
	echo "Don't use \`python\`. Use \`py\`."
}

Now, when you run py or pyp, it first tries to use python inside the current directory, then the parent directory, and finally the global one.

For executables installed by python packages (e.g. django-admin ...), figure out the equivalent py -m <module name> ... for doing the same thing.

Right-click Context Menu Entries

git-bash has a special --cd option to set the directory on startup, which regular bash doesn't. To get around that, create $DEV/bash.bat:

@echo off
if not "z%1" == "z" cd "%1"
"$DEV/msys64/usr/bin/bash.exe"

Next, create a regedit file (*.reg):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\bash]
@="Bash"
"Icon"="C:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\bash\command]
@="d:\\dev\\bash.bat"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\bash]
@="Bash"
"Icon"="C:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\bash\command]
@="d:\\dev\\bash.bat \"%1\""

Note the paths have to be Windows-style, with escaped (double) backslashes, and that the "Background" entry's command should not contain %1. Feel free to change the "Icon" and "Position" properties. Execute the regedit file and you're done.