I'm quite confused at the differences here and would appreciate some clarification.
What I think is that in PowerShell 1.0, there were Modules (commands written in PowerShell) and Snap-Ins (a dynamic link library that implements cmdlets and providers). However, the lines became blurred as Modules can contain DLLs that the Cmdlets and Functions in the module can call, so eventually Snap-Ins are now effectively redundant.
Then came NuGet packages, which seems to be some kind of package deployment system (build by Microsoft??). This is not PowerShell specific in the way that the PowerShell Gallery is, and NuGet packages can deploy any kind of functionality to a Windows system. Is it correct to think of NuGet as the successor of MSI as a package deployment method?
So, we have PowerShell Gallery (only for PowerShell modules) and NuGet (for anything, but also contains PowerShell packages). What is a Package and how is it defined differently from a Module in the context of PowerShell?
Then, I notice that PowerShell have *-Package and *-Module Cmdlets, so you can run:
find-module *7zip*
find-package *7zip*
The same four items are returned here, but where are these Cmdlets pointing? If you run install-module is the Module installed from the PowerShell Gallery, and if you run install-package is an equivalent package (that is not a Module, but a package, whatever that is!) installed from NuGet?
Any clarification on the above would be greatly appreciated as I'm finding it hard to find clear definitions of what all of these things are and how they interact with each other (and indeed, what is the best way for me to approach installing them and upkeep)?
Related
I am using PowerShell 6.2 preview at the moment. In my script I am trying to do stuff with Windows 10 apps. To be able to use commands like Get-AppxPackage, I need to import Windows modules from previous PowerShell like so:
Import-Module C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\Appx\Appx.psd1 -SkipEditionCheck
Import-Module C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\dism\dism.psd1 -SkipEditionCheck
Does PowerShell core has its own modules to work with this? I found Get-Package for example, but that does not give me anything.
Since this is one of the top search results for PowerShell Core Get-AppxPackage, I'm going to take the information from the link provided in the comments and provide an answer, with example.
As LangsGalgEnRad pointed out in the comments, it's easiest just to do this from Windows PowerShell, but ultimately that's just-shy-of-deprecated at this point, with Microsoft stating that there are to be no more fixes or changes other than critical security issues. That said, it's still (afaik) universally available in Windows installations.
But for those of us who want to follow Microsoft's advice to use PowerShell Core, LangsGalgEnRad also points out in the comments the WindowsCompatibility module from Microsoft. Reading the blog post, this seems a bit safer than importing a Windows module (e.g. AppX) from PowerShell Core, since among other things ...
WindowsCompatibility is very careful to not overwrite native PowerShell core commands.
To install from PowerShell Gallery:
Install-Module WindowsCompatibility
Example usage for AppX:
Import-Module WindowsCompatibility
Import-WinModule AppX
Get-AppxPackage
I have a few powershell commands in a script that I want to distribute to everyone on my team. This script may be updated and I would want an easy way for my team to update this script as well. Someone suggested Chocolatey which I have never used before. I found the following in the Chocolatey.org FAQ:
"What kind of package types does Chocolatey support?
Binary Packages – Installable/portable applications – This is 98% of the Chocolatey packages – most are pointers to the real deal native installers and/or zipped software.
PowerShell Command Packages – Packages that have the suffix .powershell will install PowerShell scripts as commands for you to call from anywhere.
Development Packages – Packages that have the suffix .dev. For instance dropkick.dev.
Coming soon – Virtual Packages – Packages that are like a category, and you just want one package from that category. Read more ..."
Does anyone have an example of using chocolatey to install a powershell script to the Path so that the commands in it can be executed from anyway on the machine? I am unable to find an example of how to do this online.
If this is an inappropriate use of chocolatey, please let me know and feel free to recommend an alternate solution.
Thank you very much for your time. Please let me know if I am being unclear or if you have any questions for me?
Look at the PowerShell Function Reference, which has all of the different functions you can call. Then take a look, specifically, at the Install-ChocolateyPowershellCommand helper. Here's an example of a package that installs a powershell script as a command (source).
I'm really don't know my modules from my manifests when it comes to PowerShell, so hopefully one of you kind folks can get me sorted. I'm trying to install a PowerShell snap-in that comes packaged with a software asset management solution (AdminStudio).
There are no apparent errors, however, I can't invoke commands with the module and the module doesn't populate in a Get-Module -list, so I don't believe it installed correctly.
The documentation describing installation is rather brief, though I don't think anyone's to blame for that. This should be a simple process.
AdminStudio PowerShell Install Guide
Any ideas?
What I want
I want to publish number of PowerShell scripts as Nuget package to be used on build systems.
I want to use PowerShellGet to do installation work for me and version management.
I don't want those scripts to be part of any Visual Studio solution, but as standalone scripts.
Usage scenario
On any system, with configured Nuget provider user executes:
Install-Module MyModule
From that moment all exports from that module permanently available for this user.
Also user can call that command again to update version of those scripts.
What I've done
You can find current state of package here: GitHub
I've added and configured Nuget provider to our local Nuget server
To do this call Get-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -ForceBootstrap and Set-PSRepository -Name My_Nuget_Repo -SourceLocation http://my-nuget/api -InstallationPolicy Trusted
Created proper module, which can be imported locally by Import-Module
Created and published Nuget package with that module
Problem
I can install that package by Install-Module cmdlet and I can see it later in Get-InstalledModule list.
But, no functions are available.
Also, no matter what, but Install-Module not calling any of scripts from my package:
Not calling ScriptsToProcess from MyModule.psd1
Not calling Install.ps1 from tools folder
Not calling Init.ps1 from tools folder
Cmdlets exported by module not available and module can't be imported by Import-Module
(Same package works properly when installed from Visual Studios Install-Package MyModule, scripts are called, PowerShell module is imported).
Investigation
Since PowerShellGet is based on OneGet it seems that problem is in Install-Package cmdlet (which is called inside Install-Module cmdlet).
When I'm executing Install-Package MyModule from Visual Studio Install.ps1 and Init.ps1 are called. But same command from pure PowerShell doing nothing.
After long reverse engineering I've found the root cause
Technical reason
Magical tag PSModule has to be added to <Tags> in nuspec file.
Real reason
You shouldn't create nuspec file and pack nuget package manually at all. Use Publish-Module cmdlet instead.
How to do it properly
I've updated powershellget-module GitHub with:
Example of minimal module which can be published
A way how to use local folder as Nuget feed
Publishing, installation and usage of that module
Reference script with no dependencies which does it all locally, so you can study it
Check it out.
I was trying to use Nuget as a software deployment system (repository, versioning and delivery) - idea from Octopus. Previously I was packaging ASP.NET sites into a self-extracting RAR archives with a .CMD startup scripts embeded. Now I'm trying to use Nuget creating puckages during automated build. The issue is that the package installation scripts (tools\Install.ps1 or tools\Init.ps1) do not execute if the package is being installed using command line:
nuget.exe install <package_id> -OutputDirectory <install_folder> -source <local_repo>
Same scripts are able to execute when package installed from Visual Studio Package Manager or Console.
I do not see why this shouldn't be possible given omnipresence of PowerShell.
Am I missing something or this is behaviour by design? Will appreciate you help.
Yes, we did consider MSDeploy but we already have install scripts that do the same thing and give more control and we need some strong package management and repository for build artifacts (something that Java folks do with Maven).
As of today, the powershell scripts are not invoked from doing installations from command line.
One reason for this is that, in general, most of the install/init actions are tied to dte and the visual studio project and doesn't add much value to be able to run it from outside VS.
We have a backlog item for enabling support for exe based scripts too in addition to powershell.