Preface

Building on earlier groundwork, I'm finally continuing the updates here. This will most likely be the last installment in this series for now.

Additionally, I've incorporated some previous content updates into this piece as well.

Supplementary Notes on the Scoop Package Manager

This section provides additional information and tips for managing software using the Scoop command-line installer for Windows.

Common Scoop Commands

scoop help # View help
scoop help <some command> # View help for a specific command

scoop info <app>      # View APP information
scoop install <app>   # Install APP
scoop uinstall <app>  # Uninstall APP
scoop reset [app]@[version] # Switch versions

scoop list  # List installed apps
scoop search # Search for apps
scoop status # Check which apps have updates

scoop update # Update Scoop itself
scoop update appName1 appName2 # Update certain apps
scoop update *  # Update all apps (requires operating within the apps directory)

scoop bucket known # Use this command to list all known buckets (software sources)
scoop bucket add bucketName # Add a specific bucket

scoop cache rm <app>  # Remove the cache for a specific app
scoop cache rm *      # Remove all caches
scoop cleanup <app>   # Delete old versions

scoop Frequently Asked Questions

Hash check errors when installing software

• If the error persists after multiple installation attempts, locate its JSON file, download it locally, modify its hash value, and upload it to your own bucket, then update it.
• Use the scoop install -s option to ignore the hash check. For specific usage, refer to scoop help install

How to remove old versions of software when updating

Use the scoop cleanup command. For specific usage, see scoop help cleanup

Terminal

OK, we've arrived at a major pain point in the Windows development experience.

The command line has always been a weakness of Windows, but with some Rust toolchains (Rust 工具链), this situation can be gradually improved.

Nerd Fonts

To beautify your terminal interface, start by installing a Nerd Font.

This is where a package manager comes in handy again—you can install it using Scoop.

First, add the bucket:

scoop bucket add nerd-fonts

Project URL: https://github.com/matthewjberger/scoop-nerd-fonts

Then, choose a font you like and install it:

scoop install FiraCode-NF

Additionally, this bucket contains many fonts and is no longer limited to Nerd Fonts. You can also install some regular fonts, for example:

scoop install SarasaGothic-SC # Install Sarasa Gothic (Simplified Chinese)
scoop install Wenquanyi-Microhei # Install WenQuanYi Micro Hei
scoop install Wenquanyi-Zenhei # Install WenQuanYi Zen Hei

References

• https://blog.thecjw.me/?p=1160
• https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts

Built-in PowerShell

To get straight to the point: the built-in PowerShell is garbage.

I do not recommend using oh-my-posh, as its startup speed is too slow. PowerShell's startup is already slow, and adding oh-my-posh makes it even slower.

For terminal customization, just use Starship. I will introduce it later.

How to edit the configuration: nano $PROFILE

Here is my configuration:

oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH/amro.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression

Import-Module gsudoModule

set-alias -name ll -value ls set-alias -name ef -value dotnet-ef

starship

Invoke the Starship prompt in PowerShell Set the environment variable for Starship configuration

Invoke-Expression (&starship init powershell)
$ENV:STARSHIP_CONFIG = "$HOME\.config\starship\plain-text-symbols.toml"

PowerShell 7

This is Microsoft's new open-source, cross-platform terminal, which is a bit more powerful and performant than the built-in PowerShell. (Judging from the project repository, it's developed using C#, which helps with good cross-platform support.)

Project Address: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell

Just download an installer and you're good to go.

My $PROFILE configuration

Set-PSReadLineOption -PredictionSource HistoryAndPlugin
Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Chord Tab -Function MenuComplete
Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Key UpArrow -ScriptBlock {
	[Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine]::HistorySearchBackward()
  [Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine]::EndOfLine()
}
Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Key DownArrow -ScriptBlock {
	[Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine]::HistorySearchForward()
  [Microsoft.PowerShell.PSConsoleReadLine]::EndOfLine()
}
Set-PSReadLineOption -PredictionViewStyle ListView
set-alias -name ll -value ls

starship

Invoke-Expression (&starship init powershell) $ENV:STARSHIP_CONFIG = "$HOME.config\starship\gruvbox-rainbow.toml"

### Starship

- Configuration - https://starship.rs/zh-CN/config/
- Presets - https://starship.rs/zh-CN/presets/
### NuShell

https://www.nushell.sh/zh-CN/book/
### References

- Unifying the styles of cmd, PowerShell, Git Bash, etc., with Starship - https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/674148271
- Step-by-step guide to building a modern unified terminal (Alacritty + Zellij -> WezTerm) - https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/436024560
## Command Line Tools
### WinSW

A process management tool, similar to `supervisor` in Linux, which can install programs to run as services and set them to run automatically.

#### Installation

```bash
scoop install winsw

Usage

Similar to supervisor, write a configuration file, then install the service, which can be started, stopped, etc.

My Directory Structure

Here, I have set up two services: vnc and frpc.

 WinSW
 ├─ config
 │  ├─ vnc.xml
 │  ├─ vnc.wrapper.log
 │  ├─ vnc.out.log.old
 │  ├─ vnc.out.log
 │  ├─ vnc.err.log.old
 │  ├─ vnc.err.log
 │  ├─ frpc.xml
 │  ├─ frpc.wrapper.log
 │  ├─ frpc.out.log.old
 │  ├─ frpc.out.log
 │  ├─ frpc.err.log.old
 │  └─ frpc.err.log
 └─ WinSW.exe

Configuration File Content

Taking frpc.xml as an example.

<service>
  <id>frpc</id>
  <name>frpc</name>
  <description>frp自动启动</description>
  <executable>D:\softwares\frp\frpc-a.exe</executable>
  <arguments>-c D:\softwares\frp\frpc.ini</arguments>
  <log mode="roll"></log>
  <startmode>Automatic</startmode>
</service>

Install the Service and Start

Type the command.

# Install Service
winsw install ./config/frpc.xml
# Start

winsw start ./config/frpc.xml

That's it.

For now, use this until a better tool is found.

Known Issues

I frequently encounter the issue of this tool failing to start automatically on boot. Even when I check the Service Manager and confirm that the installed service is set to Automatic and enabled, it still does not start upon startup.

I'm not sure what the problem is, and I'm currently looking for an alternative to WinSW.

scoop-search

Since scoop is written using PowerShell scripts, the search speed becomes relatively slow after adding many buckets.

An expert wrote a new search tool that is much faster than the original, using the Zig language, which I hadn't heard of before.

Project URL: https://github.com/shilangyu/scoop-search

Installation Method

scoop install scoop-search

If you want to replace the original search with scoop-search, you can add the following configuration to $profile.

Invoke-Expression (&scoop-search --hook)

Comparison with the original version

> scoop search curl
Results from local buckets...

Name    Version Source Binaries
----    ------- ------ --------
curl    8.6.0_2 main
curlie  1.7.2   main
gnupg1  1.4.23  main   gpgkeys_curl.exe
gow     0.8.0   main   curl.exe
grpcurl 1.8.9   main

scoop-search

x scoop-search curl
'main' bucket:
    curl (8.6.0_2)
    curlie (1.7.2)
    gnupg1 (1.4.23) --> includes 'gpgkeys_curl.exe'
    gow (0.8.0) --> includes 'curl.exe'
    grpcurl (1.8.9)

Gow

Completing the Unix Toolchain on Windows

Project URL: https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow

Gow (Gnu On Windows) is the lightweight alternative to Cygwin. It uses a convenient Windows installer that installs about 130 extremely useful open source UNIX applications compiled as native win32 binaries. It is designed to be as small as possible, about 10 MB, as opposed to Cygwin which can run well over 100 MB depending upon options.

It contains over a hundred Unix-like utilities, for example, the nano editor I often use.

The specific tool list is available here: https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow/wiki/executables_list

Installation is simple, using Scoop:

scoop install gow

gsudo

A sudo tool for Windows

In Linux, to execute a command with administrator privileges, you simply prepend sudo. This is quite cumbersome on Windows, as it requires opening a dedicated PowerShell window in administrator mode.

This small tool solves this problem. Its usage is identical to the sudo command in Linux.

PS: Good news is that Microsoft plans to add a native sudo command in Windows 11.

Installation

scoop install gsudo

proxychains

Command-line proxy tool

Commonly used in Linux, and surprisingly also works on Windows, (but seems to have some strange issues)

Installation

scoop install proxychains

erdtree

A file tree display tool developed in Rust

Convenient for showing directory structure when writing articles—no need to screenshot the directory structure.

Installation

scoop install erdtree

Common parameters I use

erd -L 3 --dir-order last -y inverted --suppress-size -.

Parameter descriptions:

• -L 3: Traverse 3 levels of directories
• --dir-order last: Display directories first
• -y inverted: -y sets the layout; options include regular, inverted, flat, and iflat
• --suppress-size: Hide file sizes
• -.: Show hidden files

blessed-contrib

This is a command-line dashboard component library built on Nodejs. While it may not have much practical use, it's fun to play with. As we all know, Linux has many interesting command-line tools, but Windows has fewer. Since this is developed with Nodejs, it's cross-platform and can also be used on Windows.

Project URL: https://github.com/yaronn/blessed-contrib

Usage

git clone https://github.com/yaronn/blessed-contrib.git
cd blessed-contrib
npm install
node ./examples/dashboard.js

Requires a Nodejs environment to be installed, which is slightly more cumbersome. It would be great if there were similar tools developed in Go or Rust.

Add to $profile for convenient future use. Open the configuration file.

nano $profile

Add a PowerShell function.

function dashboard {
	node "C:\path\to\blessed-contrib\examples\dashboard.js"
}

Subsequently, you can simply type the dashboard command.