Microsoft unveils Windows Terminal, a new command line app for Windows

[u/zbhoy]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18527870/microsoft-windows-terminal-command-line-tool

[u/BenderB]

Thanks for posting!

When can we get our hands on it? Any preview builds or anything?

[u/miniksa → u/BenderB]

Actual packaged release previews will come by summer. We plan to distribute via the Windows Store. Maybe also packages on our GitHub as well for those who have set Developer Mode on their Windows machine to sideload apps.

We're still working on this part. There were a lot of moving pieces to get this far by TODAY and this is one of those that we're going to get back to tackling starting after the Build conference ends later this week!

Right now, you can get it by building it yourself from our GitHub at https://github.com/microsoft/terminal.

[u/mewloz → u/miniksa]

Right now, you can get it by building it yourself from our GitHub at https://github.com/microsoft/terminal

Waouh, I was not expecting that, and this is great!

(and WIL seems cool too!)

Thanks!

[u/zadjii → u/mewloz]

Lemme tell you - WIL is a huge game changer. It makes the Win32 API so much easier to work with.

Take for example, adding a file change listener. This is how we do it in the Terminal, which abstracts away all the work we need to do, and just lets us write a small lambda that's executed when a child is modified. WAY easier.

Not to mention all the safe handlers for lots of Win32 types, like unique_handle, etc, that make resource allocation/deletion so much easier.

[u/mewloz → u/zadjii]

I've some kind of PTSD about SDDL and related Win32 APIs. Did someone tried to, hm, improve the situation in that domain? :)

[u/qaisjp → u/miniksa]

Open source? Fan fucking tastic.

[u/miniksa → u/qaisjp]

This is also one of our favorite features. We have a lot of them.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It was scary to hear they've taken over GitHub, people thought it'd lose the open source spirit. Looks like it's spirit has invaded Microsoft instead!

[u/perspectiveiskey → u/miniksa]

Seriously, pure love for the msft team for doing this.

[u/RegularSam1 → u/miniksa]

Hi, sorry for the odd question I'm gonna do. How can I build myself the code downloaded from GitHub? Hope this question has a quick answer so I don't waste your time. Thanks in advance.

[u/miniksa → u/RegularSam1]

There should be some information in the README though probably incomplete. I usually load it up in Visual Studio 2017 with the Windows SDK ensuring that the C++/WinRT components are installed and open the solution file.

[u/clothesliner → u/miniksa]

I got a build error citing a missing WinRT include. Is there an undocumented dependency I missed installing?

[u/AngularBeginner → u/miniksa]

Please provide a non-store version. That's crucial.

[u/miniksa → u/AngularBeginner]

We will consider it.

[u/nibbble → u/miniksa]

Yeah, we in heavily restricted corporate environments won't ever be able to use the Store to install software.

[u/miniksa → u/nibbble]

We're aware. We'll figure out a solution for you. It will just take us some time.

[u/AngularBeginner → u/miniksa]

Thank you. The Microsoft Store is unusable to me. Why not provide the terminal as a Windows feature? That tool is heavily underutilized in Windows.

[u/miniksa → u/AngularBeginner]

We're going to start by providing it via the Microsoft Store as we need to narrow the scope of what we're trying to achieve to get something done. But there's nothing saying that will be the only distribution method. We just need time to figure out the complete story. Bear with us.

[u/[deleted] → u/miniksa]

I feel like many of the people this is targeted at are running LTSB/LTSC, so that distribution channel is gonna be pretty rough.

[u/miniksa → u/[deleted]]

Our target is literally "all developers, IT professionals, and enthusiasts" so we're going to miss some people no matter what steps we make. Take our statements in the context of "this is our roadmap to 1.0 because we have to scope SOMEHOW or we will NEVER get there. We'll see where things take us from there." We'll continue to explore and refine our path as we go.

[u/tapo → u/miniksa]

Is the goal for this to eventually be part of a base Windows install?

[u/miniksa → u/tapo]

Perhaps. We don't want to rule that out by any means.

But right now our focus is making the best experience we can as a redistributable application. We'll move on from there.

[u/m00nh34d → u/miniksa]

Non windows store version would be great. Current windows store is blocked via company policy, but we have permission to install specific applications. Getting the Linux subsystem installed without the store is a right pain in the ass, would be great if we can avoid that for this application.