Cygwin and Mingw-w64

Cygwin: Get that Linux feeling - on Windows. a large collection of GNU and Open Source tools which provide functionality similar to a Linux distribution on Windows. a DLL (cygwin1.dll) which provides substantial POSIX API functionality.

MSYS2 is a collection of tools and libraries providing you with an easy-to-use environment for building, installing and running native Windows software.

In short:

• Cygwin: Build and run GNU/Linux tools for windows (requires a cygwin1.dll).
• MSYS2: Build, install and run native Windows softwares.

Cygwin

Recommend packages

• autossh
• openssh
• curl
• wget
• git
• vim
• jq

Recommend packages part II

• python3
• python-pip-wheel
• ctags

MSYS2

Install the main binary msys2-x86_64-20250830.exe https://github.com/msys2/msys2-installer/releases/download/2025-08-30/msys2-x86_64-20250830.exe

then install mingw-w64 GCC: pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc