There are many alternatives out there for having an apt-like Package Manager for Cygwin (as well documented here) like:
But, as a challange, i didn't want to install anything and do everything i needed using only Cygwin inbuilt CLI commands.
On Cygwin FAQ webpage at chapter 2.3 you can find a list of all the parameters you can pass to the setup to automate things, like specify which architecture, proxy to use AND which packages to install or uninstall. So i just created a wrapper around these parameters.
To use it:
- Copy this code into your
~/.bashrc:
CustomPkgManager () (
local default='\033[0m';
local red='\033[31m';
local yellow='\033[33m'
local cyan='\033[36m';
local underlined='\033[4m';
local operative_system=$(uname -o);
local arch=$(uname -m);
local installer_path=/tmp/CygwinSetup_${arch}.exe;
local max_width_column=55;
local terminal_lines=$(tput lines);
local terminal_columns=$(tput cols);
main () {
local option=${1,,};
shift;
# This only works with Cygwin, so exclude others
if [[ $operative_system != "Cygwin" ]]; then
printf "[${red}ERROR${default}] - Operative System is not Cygwin!\n\n";
return 1;
fi
# Check if there are any options
[[ -z "$option" ]] && {
printf "[${red}ERROR${default}] - First paramtere not specified\n\n";
usage;
return 1;
}
# If there is no installer at the specified path, download it
if [[ ! -f "$installer_path" ]]; then
printf "[${yellow}WARNING${default}] - Installer not found under path $installer_path\n";
download_setup;
fi;
# Do things based on the option specified as first parameter
case $option in
"list")
printf "Downloading packages from repository. Please wait...";
list_of_packages=$(packages_from_repo);
# Clear line
printf "\r%*s" $terminal_columns "";
less <<< "$list_of_packages";
return 0;
;;
"search")
search_params=$(echo "$@" | tr -s '[:space:]' | tr ',' '|' | tr ' ' '|');
[[ -z "$search_params" ]] && {
printf "[${red}ERROR${default}] - No search params specified\n\n";
usage;
return 1;
}
printf "Downloading packages from repository. Please wait...";
formatted_data=$(packages_from_repo | awk "\$1 ~ /$search_params/{print}" | sed -r "s/$search_params/\\\\033[1;31m&\\\\033[0m/");
# Check if there are results
total_results=0;
[[ ! -z "$formatted_data" ]] && total_results=$(wc -l <<<"$formatted_data");
# Clear line before printing data
printf "\r%*s\r" $terminal_columns "";
# Print data
printf "\nTotal results: $total_results\n\n"
[[ ! -z "$formatted_data" ]] && printf "$formatted_data\n";
return 0;
;;
"install")
packages=$(echo "$@" | tr -s '[:space:]' | tr ' ' ',');
[[ -z "$packages" ]] && {
printf "[${red}ERROR${default}] - No packages specified\n\n";
usage;
return 1;
}
printf "Installing: $packages\n\n";
"$installer_path" -nq -WB -P $packages
return 0;
;;
"remove")
packages=$(echo "$@" | tr -s '[:space:]' | tr ' ' ',');
[[ -z "$packages" ]] && {
printf "[${red}ERROR${default}] - No packages specified\n\n";
usage;
return 1;
}
printf "Removing: $packages\n\n";
"$installer_path" -nq -WB -x $packages
return 0;
;;
*)
printf "ERROR - Unknown option\n\n";
usage;
return 1;
;;
esac;
}
# ---------------- Functions ----------------
usage() {
printf "A small Package Manager for Cygwin made using only Cygwin inbuilt features\n\n";
printf "Usage:\n";
printf "\t${FUNCNAME[2]} list\n";
printf "\t${FUNCNAME[2]} search ${underlined}REGEX${default}\n";
printf "\t${FUNCNAME[2]} install ${underlined}PACKAGE${default}\n";
printf "\t${FUNCNAME[2]} remove ${underlined}PACKAGE${default}\n";
}
download_setup() {
printf "Download: ";
[[ $arch == "x86_64" ]] && {
download_url='https://cygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe';
} || {
download_url='https://cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe';
}
curl -s "$download_url" > "$installer_path" && printf "${green}OK${default}\n\n" || printf "${red}ERRORE${default}\n\n";
chmod 777 "$installer_path";
}
# Retrieves packages and descriptions from the package list hosted on Cygwin Official Website
packages_from_repo() (
data=$(curl -s --ssl-no-revoke https://cygwin.com/packages/package_list.html);
awk -v max_length=$max_width_column '
/href="summary/{
line=$0;
name="";
description="";
name=substr(line, index(line, ".html\">")+7);
name=substr(name, 0, index(name, "</a>")-1);
description=substr(line, index(line, "</a></td><td>")+13);
description=substr(description, 0, index(description, "</td></tr>")-1);
printf("%-*s - %s\n", max_length, name, description);
}
' <<<"$data";
);
main "$@";
return $?;
)Then, to use it you can:
- Call the function with apt-like parameters
- Use handy and easy-to-remember aliases:
alias pkgInstall='CustomPkgManager install'
alias pkgRemove='CustomPkgManager remove'
alias pkgList='CustomPkgManager list'
alias pkgSearch='CustomPkgManager search'