View source for Programming/Git/Setting up development environment in Git Bash

'''Introduction'''

If you are used to command line-based development, you may wish to set up your development environment within '''Git Bash''', an application for Microsoft Windows environments which provides an emulation layer for a Git command line experience. Bash is an acronym for Bourne Again Shell. A shell is a terminal application used to interface with an operating system through written commands.

Git Bash is included as part of the [https://git-scm.com/download/win Git For Windows] package. Download and install Git For Windows like other Windows applications. Once downloaded, find the included .exe file and open to execute Git Bash.

'''Installing Anaconda'''

Next, you need to install the Anaconda Python distribution on your system. You can download it from [https://www.anaconda.com/download here]. Once installed, '''conda''' won't be immediately available within Git Bash. Go into the directory where you installed Anaconda, then
<pre>
.../etc/profile.d/
</pre>
in that directory you will find a file called '''conda.sh'''. Add it to the end of your '''~/.bashrc''' file:
<pre>
echo ". ${PWD}/conda.sh" >> ~/.bashrc
</pre>
If the path to '''conda.sh''' contains spaces, you should use instead
<pre>
echo ". '${PWD}'/conda.sh" >> ~/.bashrc
</pre>

Close and re-open Git Bash for the changes to take effect. You may see
<pre>
WARNING: Found ~/.bashrc but no ~/bash_profile, ~/.bash_login or ~/.profile.

This looks like an incorrect setup.
A ~/.bash_profile that loads ~/.bashrc will be create for you.
</pre>

That's not a problem.

Let's create a '''conda''' environment called "development":
<pre>
conda create --name development
</pre>

We then need to init '''bash''',
<pre>
conda init bash
</pre>
close and reopen Git Bash, and activate the new conda environment:
<pre>
conda activate development
</pre>

Suppose we now want to do some C or C++ development. Let's install '''m2w64-gcc''':
<pre>
conda install -c conda-forge m2w64-gcc
</pre>
We can now run
<pre>
gcc
</pre>
and
<pre>
g++
</pre>

Perhaps we also want to develop in Fortran. In this case
<pre>
conda install -c conda-forge m2w64-gcc-fortran
</pre>
Then we can run
<pre>
gfortran
</pre>

It's also useful to have Make:
<pre>
conda install -c conda-forge make
</pre>
so we can run
<pre>
make
</pre>

Ninja:
<pre>
conda install -c conda-forge ninja
</pre>
so we can run
<pre>
ninja
</pre>

Finally, CMake:
<pre>
conda install -c conda-forge cmake
</pre>
so we can run
<pre>
cmake
</pre>

At this point it may be a good idea to install some advanced software development editors, such as Emacs or Vim. Vim is available as a '''conda''' package:
<pre>
conda install -c conda-forge vim
</pre>

Then you can run
<pre>
vim
</pre>