Install Cygwin on Windows

Cygwin is a Linux command line emulator.

https://cygwin.com/install.html

Once it is installed, you will need to manually install other packages to let you build the software. Take the warning seriously: do not install everything, you will download hundreds of gigs of software you do not need. Rather install the specific dependencies.

Once cygwin is installed, it will not, by default, set your home directory (home folder) to c:\users\yourname

However, generally you DO want to do that, so you can use linux commands on your own files.

To set that, follow the steps here:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1494658/how-can-i-change-my-cygwin-home-folder-after-installation

The packages I strongly recommend you install are rsync, ssh, openssh, curl and wget

Starting with Cygwin 1.7.34, the recommended way to do this is to add a custom db_home setting to /etc/nsswitch.conf. A common wish when doing this is to make your Cygwin home directory equal to your Windows user profile directory. This setting will do that:

db_home: windows

Or, equivalently:

db_home: /%H

Simply type

vi /etc/nsswitch.conf

cursor up/down till you find db_home

use the key 'x' to delete characters you don't want

type the character 'i' to insert new letters

when you are finished and want to save

press 

esc ZZ

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