Microsoft Power Shell going Open Source.
For now it will be available for Ubuntu, Centos, and Red Hat, and will also runs on Mac OS X. More platforms will be added in the future. You can see the source code and try Alpha build on their GitHub page(Opens in new window)
Many feel this quote is relevant now.
If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won. - Linus Torvalds.
What is Powershell?
Powershell is a Windows command line tool and associated scripting language built on the .Net framework for performing administrative tasks on both local and remote Windows systems. Alot like how the Terminal work for Linux and Mac OS X. Powershell has been a part of Windows systems for 10 years(November 14, 2006 ).
Installing Powershell.
No need to build from source. THere are .pkg files available for MAC OS X, .rpm files for Red HAt and .deb for Ubuntu.
Go to GitHub(Opens in new window) and download the file you need. If you are on Ubuntu there are dependencies. To be sure you have them installed and most recent, first update your repositories and then:
- Ubuntu 14.04.
- sudo apt-get install libunwind8 libicu52
- Ubuntu 16.04.
- sudo apt-get install libunwind8 libicu55
Default paths on Ubuntu.
- $PSHOME is /opt/microsoft/powershell/6.0.0-alpha.9/.
- User profiles will be read from ~/.config/powershell/profile.ps1.
- Default profiles will be read from $PSHOME/profile.ps1.
- User modules will be read from ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules.
- Shared modules will be read from /usr/local/share/powershell/Modules.
- Default modules will be read from $PSHOME/Modules.
- PSReadLine history will be recorded to ~/.local/share/powershell/PSReadLine/ConsoleHost_history.txt.
What do this mean?
Microsoft is making the following formal promises for .NET on Linux and Mac OS X when it is formally released and considered “RTM”(released to manufacturers):
- 1. .NET Core apps can run in a production Linux environment including Docker on-prem and cloud.
- 2. Devlopers can edit compile debug their .NET code on Mac OS X using VS code or favorite editor.
- 3. Apps built using platform –agnostic feature have identical behavior on Windows and cross-platform.
- 4. .NET Core brings along existing .NET cloud ecosystem of libraries to Linux.
- 5. Microsoft will support, service, and maintain .NET on Linux like any other Microsoft product.
Last words
We are really seeing some improvements in cross platform usability lately. First, Microsoft added Bash to Windows 10, giving it native support to manage a Linux Server from Windows. And now we can manage .NET frameworks from Linux.