Windows Development Environment

Windows Development Environment

Why Use Windows for Software Development

For many years, I primarily used Linux for software development at work. However, when I joined a new company, my work laptop came with Windows. At home, I also use a Windows machine for side projects and gaming. Naturally, I started looking for a solution that balanced both software development and gaming without constantly switching machines.

MinGW vs WSL1/2

I rely heavily on the command line. While WSL is a great option, it runs on top of Hyper-V, which introduces noticeable I/O performance overhead. Instead, I chose MinGW, which is more lightweight.

With MSYS2, I also get the convenience of the pacman package manager, making updates and package installations seamless. My main development environment is MSYS2 with MinGW64.

Some useful commands I use frequently:

# Update everything
pacman -Syu

# Remove unused packages from cache
pacman -Sc

# Clean orphaned packages
pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qdtq)

Git

One limitation of MSYS2 is Git support, especially for GUI tools like gitk. Meanwhile, Git for Windows does not support pacman.

There was once a Git for Windows SDK, which had everything in one package, but it has been abandoned. For now, the best solution is to install both MSYS2 and Git for Windows, while using MSYS2/MinGW64 as the main shell.

To make Git available inside MSYS2, add this snippet to your ~/.bashrc (replace <install path> with your Git installation directory):

export PATH="<install path>/Git/cmd:
<install path>/Git/mingw64/libexec/git-core:\
$PATH"

Node.js

Although MSYS2/MinGW64 provides Node.js, its version cannot build Tauri apps for Windows. The workaround is to install the official Windows Node.js release and then update your ~/.bashrc:

export PATH="/c/Program Files/nodejs:$PATH"

This ensures Node works properly for Tauri and other native builds.

Meld

I use Meld for file and folder comparison. Installing it inside MSYS2/MinGW64 means I can keep it updated easily with pacman.

To use Meld directly in a Windows terminal or PowerShell, add the MSYS2 bin directory to your system PATH:

set PATH=C:\msys64\mingw64\bin;%PATH%

Python

I recommend to use conda-forge or miniforge

CMake/Emacs

I installed them inside MSYS2/MinGW64 and use them everywhere

Final Thoughts

With this setup:

• MSYS2/MinGW64 gives me a Linux-like environment.
• Git for Windows fills the Git GUI gap.
• Windows Node.js ensures compatibility for Tauri and native builds.
• Meld integrates seamlessly for diff/merge tasks.

This way, I get the best of both worlds: a smooth development experience on Windows while keeping gaming performance intact.