include common tools in Windows build

[justinmk]

By including common tools such as curl and xxd, we can build things on top of those tools and know that they will work on all platforms. Here's a list (subject to modification and suggestions):

• HTML tidy (this might allow us to remove runtime/autoload/xml Divide and extract default runtime to "plugin"s #1507)
  • http://tidybatchfiles.info (?)
• curl.exe
• diff.exe
• cat.exe
• 7-zip (7za.exe)
• xxd.exe
• tee.exe
• jq
• gclip or winclip win32yank
• ...

The vim-single-drop project may have some useful techniques to look at.

If we cannot include these tools as part of the Windows deliverable, for legal or technical reasons, then they should be available by a single post-installation step.

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Note: I mention vim-single-drop only as a reference. I think bundling entire runtimes such as python, ruby, etc. with a text editor is not a good idea and adds a huge support burden.

[tarruda]

How about distributing it with msys? This is already done by projects such as git for windows.

[ghost]

That would increase the size of the software greatly.
Just some components of GnuWin32 (like grep, unix2dos, ctags, indent, etc.) might be ok. If needed, the users could install msys by themselves, and that would be more flexible.

[tarruda]

That would increase the size of the software greatly.
Just some components of GnuWin32 (like grep, unix2dos, ctags, indent, etc.) might be ok. If needed, the users could install msys by themselves, and that would be more flexible.

Agreed. Maybe we should just include the tools required by vim commands(bourne shell, diff..)

[ghost]

I'm not sure whether bourne shell is necessary on windows or not.
As a vim user on windows for many years, I use shell only in vimrc to have a shortcut of invoking indent, ctags or pdflatex. Besides, there is also windows shell.
just personal opinion :)

[tarruda]

@zj-1 at least on unix, vim makes a lot of use of bourne shell features:

• Redirection is used by system() function and by commands such as :diff*
• Command completion is implemented by globbing the shell
• Bang commands are passed directly to the shell

I'm not sure how these are implemented by vim on windows, but if it uses cmd.exe the result could be inconsistent. By shipping a lightweight bourne shell we eliminate many of these inconsistencies.

[justinmk]

MSYS (and cygwin) have major problems, but MSYS2 could be worth looking at. It's a big liability/support risk though.

Redirection is used by system() function and by commands such as :diff*

cmd.exe actually has redirection and piping (and Vim uses it). I'm not sure about how Vim for Windows handles advanced globbing though, if at all.

Also keep in mind that the MSYS shell is still hosted by cmd.exe, so it won't avoid encoding or terminal-related issues.

My goal for this issue, at least, is a minimum, low-risk, high-impact set of tools. E.g., having curl gives plugins (and Neovim itself) a reliable option for making HTTP requests, at very little risk. We can save Windows Neovim users the annoyance of having to hunt for a few basic tools, and this small gesture has a disproportionately large impact on plugins and editor abilities.

[equalsraf]

Also something that can be used for clipboard.vim, @fmoralesc pointed out gclip and winclip

[paulburlumi]

If I download the nightly win64 build I still don't see xxd.exe.
Is this just some difference between release and nightly builds or an omission from 2fbc42a?

[justinmk]

@paulburlumi That was an oversight, #8241 should fix it. Thanks for mentioning it.