The GIT_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable and detecting a git for windows installation

[ykhan21]

scoop install git (git for windows) sets the GIT_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable to %USERPROFILE%\scoop\apps\git\current.

1. Is this variable used in any way by git bash or git?
2. What causes GIT_INSTALL_ROOT to get set? It looks like a normal git install to C:\Program Files with the installer does not set it. scoop sets it. Does it get set in any case by the installer or other package managers?
3. What are common paths one should check on a system for a git for windows installation? %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%, C:\Program Files\Git, %USERPROFILE%\scoop\apps\git\current\, ...

[rimrul]

scoop install git (git for windows) sets the GIT_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable to %USERPROFILE%\scoop\apps\git\current.

1. Is this variable used in any way by git bash or git?

I don't think so. It seems to be used by cmder

2. What causes GIT_INSTALL_ROOT to get set?

https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Main/blob/master/bucket/git.json#L60

It looks like a normal git install to C:\Program Files with the installer does not set it. scoop sets it. Does it get set in any case by the installer or other package managers?

I think it only gets set by scoop and cmder

3. What are common paths one should check on a system for a git for windows installation? %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%, C:\Program Files\Git, %USERPROFILE%\scoop\apps\git\current\, ...

C:\Program Files\Git and C:\Program Files (x86)\Git.

[ykhan21]

@rimrul

1. Can you use the git installer to install somewhere besides C:\Program Files\Git and C:\Program Files (x86)\Git?
2. Because there are at least three common paths git is installed to (C:\Program Files\Git, C:\Program Files (x86)\Git, and %USERPROFILE%\scoop\apps\git\current), would the git-for-windows project consider setting this environment variable to allow other programs to find git? The necessary git programs are added to the Windows PATH, but some other projects try to find the git installation to use its gnu utils.

[dscho]

run a Bash command-line without modifying the PATH

I see, but what I mean is that these "other programs" use the gnu utils by invoking the bash.exe that comes with Git for Windows shell and passing a bash script for the bash.exe to run.

That's even easier:

git -c alias.sh='!sh' sh path/to/script arguments

(But I have to caution that Git for Windows is not meant as a replacement for MSYS2, Cygwin or WSL. Too many users would then ask way too much of way too few maintainer(s), Git for Windows is primarily catering toward Git's needs, not intending to provide a full Unix experience on Windows, even if some users seem to mistake it for trying to be one.)

[ykhan21]

I see, thanks, @dscho, @rimrul. I will check if MSYS can be used for these projects. Two questions, though:

1. Does git -c alias.sh='!sh' ... set a temporary alias called sh?
2. If it is not too much to ask, regarding MSYS2, will pacman -S git get me roughly the same environment as Git for Windows' bash does? I think I will need to add MSYS2's git to the Windows' path and (part of) the Windows path to MSYS2's path, but are there any major differences?

[dscho]

1. Does git -c alias.sh='!sh' ... set a temporary alias called sh?

Yes, that's what it does.

2. will pacman -S git get me roughly the same environment as Git for Windows' bash does?

Not quite. It will install the MSYS version of Git which is a tad slower than Git for Windows and follows more the Unix semantics than the Windows semantics, too.

[ykhan21]

follows more the Unix semantics than the Windows semantics, too.

Is it at least like use Git for Windows' git through Git Bash? Or MSYS's git also different from that?

Also, what would be the drawback of having the main Git for Windows installer set %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%? It would make referring to "git" easier, even when not using the bash it provides.
For example, right now, to set a Git Bash profile in Windows Terminal (or any other terminal such as IntelliJ's terminal or Wezterm or Alacritty), you need to set your shell to C:/Program Files/Git/bin/bash.exe -l -i and the icon to C:/Program Files/Git/mingw64/share/git/git-for-windows.ico. You need to change these paths if you installed GfW to a different folder such as the x86 folder. With %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%, the shell and icon would just be %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%/bin/bash.exe -l -i and %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%/mingw64/share/git/git-for-windows.ico, respectively, and it even cover installing git through scoop, which is somewhat common.

[dscho]

what would be the drawback of having the main Git for Windows installer set %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%?

It would raise expectations to levels I do not want to support (and cannot, either: After a recent reorg at GitHub, I no longer have an entire team to help out with maintaining Git for Windows).

With %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%, the shell and icon would just be %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%/bin/bash.exe -l -i and %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%/mingw64/share/git/git-for-windows.ico, respectively, and it even cover installing git through scoop, which is somewhat common.

That's precisely the level of expectations that make maintaining Git for Windows utterly hard. The hard-coded path mingw64 is an internal implementation detail, yet users pretend that this is a given and that changing it would "break Git for Windows" because they rely on things that are not actually promised.

I fear that introducing support for setting GIT_INSTALL_ROOT would only exacerbate the situation, making maintaining Git even more involved and cumbersome than it already is.

So no, I am not eager to add this.