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Well, that didn't take long: within a week of applause for Microsoft's decision to open-source PowerShell, a comment-war has broken out over
curlandwget.For those not familiar with these commands: they're open source command line tools for fetching Internet content without a browser. Apart from obvious applications like downloading whole sites (for example as backup), they're also under the hood for a lot of other toolsets (an example the author is familiar with – GIS tools use
curland/orwgetto fetch maps from Web services).For some reason, Microsoft's team decided to put aliases for
curlandwgetin Windows PowerShell – but, as this thread begins, those aliases don't delivercurlandwgetfunctionality.The pull request says the aliases should be spiked: "They block use of the commonly used command line tools without providing even an attempt to offer the same functionality. They serve no purpose for PowerShell users but cause confusion and problems to existing
curlandwgetusers."
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Tuesday August 23 2016, @11:19AM
This is a very annoying problem when it happens because as far as I can tell, in PS, there's no way to walk the PATH to find the actual binary to override the alias. The last time I needed to work with wget in a PowerShell script, I had to hardcode in the path to wget vs just letting it be found on the path. There are a bunch of other aliases in powershell, but off the top of my head, only wget and curl are actual commands vs. shell functionality.
Still always moving
(Score: 5, Interesting) by jimshatt on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:49PM
PS: Muhuhuhahaha
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:56PM
I do not have any experience with PowerShell, but noticed in the discussion thread a couple of possible work-arounds.
Work-around #1: user jpsnover [github.com] suggfested this work-around [github.com]:
Work-around #2: User kilasuit [github.com] suggested this workaround [github.com]:
Can anyone here confirm?
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @01:38PM
Yes well I have used PowerShell, and the correct solution if you insist on using wget instead of System.Net.WebClient is to bundle your own copy of wget.exe with your script and invoke it explicitly.
.\wget.exe
See? Is that so fucking hard?
Oh shit no, now I'm going to be burned at the stake by penguin loving linux scum because I've used PowerShell.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Tuesday August 23 2016, @01:44PM
You refer to us as "penguin loving linux scum" and then are surprised when people take offense? Shocking news: when you're rude to people they're often rude back.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @01:53PM
Two points:
(2)Why do you feel the overwhelming urge to join an exclusive club that uses only Linux? I use Linux and Windows equally because I'm not a goddamned bigoted asshole like so many poser geeks who are too fucking stupid to use more than one thing.
(2) Dude bro like where's my fucking tolerance and shit? Why nerds gotta be hating on nerds? Don't you get enough abuse from normals already?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @02:11PM
Windows is great for some things, like developing GUI desktop applications that run only on Windows.
The second thing it's good for is...
Let me think about that one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @02:39PM
Getting viruses! Oh you mean GOOD things it's good at. I'll get back to you
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 23 2016, @04:07PM
It's good for booting up on a new machine so you can download a Linux or BSD iso and burn it. Give credit where credit is due :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Tuesday August 23 2016, @06:10PM
If we're going to be fair, the asshole has a point. There is a way to make it work, and it is better (from a certain point of view) to be able to use as many tools and platforms as possible to get the job done. I can appreciate that attitude of agnosticism, although he shrugged it off just as fast as he put it on.
What I can't appreciate is that Microsoft attempted to bridge the gap, and then fucked it all up. There isn't a reason to go through the hoops of explicitly calling wget at all. Microsoft should have implemented both of those programs fully, with special attention at making it as consistent with Linux use as possible.
Of course, I take all of that with a grain of salt giving the inconsistencies between same named binaries within Linux and BSD platforms too. A lot of times those are simply missing flags, but that is different behavior on different platforms. Honestly, I wouldn't of singled out Microsoft at all if I find the problem, because it exists elsewhere outside of Microsoft.
They're trying at least. It's a moot point of course with everything else going on (TELEMETRY FUCK YOU!!). What's ironic is that somebody suggested to me that I use Powershell for a mini-project and I told them I wasn't willing to invest the time to figure out all the differences and eccentricities when I could be focusing on learning BSD better, and working with anti-MS platforms like ReactOS and PCBSD. Both wget and curl would have fucked me up for a few minutes.
Ultimately, working with Microsoft at all will become self-defeating IMHO. It's not like they're going in a different direction, but full steam ahead to Walled Garden'd telemetry and full NSA/FBI surveillance of all users, all the time. Shit, even Apple is putting up more of a fight against the government and loss of privacy.
Interesting Times, but if you're using PowerShell and committed to the Windows platform, you've already bent over and accepted to the big ol' lubed up M I C R O S O F T and a complete utter lack of privacy, control, and IMHO, dignity. Agnosticism left the building after Microsoft started forcefully backporting telemetry and removing individual patches.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @09:08PM
I agree that if Microsoft had properly implemented wget and curl, with rigorous compatibility testing, there would be no issue. Anyone should be able to implement those commands.
The problem is that they couldn't be bothered doing that.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Tuesday August 23 2016, @10:33PM
pedant alert:
i would not have...
vs
i would not of...
sorry, the fingers move of their own volition sometimes...
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday August 23 2016, @10:46PM
Don't apologize! :)
I wish that my grammer were better all the time ;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Saturday August 27 2016, @09:05PM
i thank a couple online denizens who corrected my misuse of 'soupcon' and misspelling of 'smorgasbord'...
a lot of obvious stuff just goes by in the stream (not worth the effort to 'correct' their/there/they're, etc mixups), but some of them catch the eye...
later, ed ed ed...
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Wednesday August 24 2016, @12:46AM
I'll happily admit to fornicating with flightless birds (in a grimy way) If it means I don't have to put up with Windows dragging down the computing paradigm to the lowest common idiot.
Here, beaky, it's time for our afternoon tryst...
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Tuesday August 23 2016, @03:26PM
(Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday August 23 2016, @04:50PM
Clippy: It looks like you are trying to work around Microsoft's deliberately broken curl and wget. Would you like me to install Windows 10 for you? Please do any of the following to install Windows 10: Click Yes, No, Cancel, the X in the title bar, or pull the power cord from the wall outlet to have Windows 10 conveniently installed on the next reboot.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.