# bmatzelle/gow

Unix command line utilities installer for Windows.

Repository: https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gow
Homepage: https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow/wiki
Language: NSIS
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-07-06T18:07:42+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5894, "days_push": 788, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license, no_readme
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6645, forks 366 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:47.258186+00:00)

## What it is
Gow (Gnu On Windows) is a lightweight NSIS installer that bundles over 100 useful open-source UNIX command-line utilities compiled as native win32 binaries for Windows. It is a small (~18 MB) alternative to Cygwin that adds the binaries to the Windows PATH and an Explorer right-click shell option.

## Use cases
- run unix command line utilities on windows
- lightweight alternative to cygwin
- install grep curl wget and other gnu tools on windows
- open a command window from any folder via right-click
- get unix shell tools without a large install footprint

## When to choose
- you need common unix CLI tools on Windows with minimal setup
- you want a small, simple installer instead of full Cygwin or WSL
- you want binaries available directly in the Windows PATH

## When to avoid
- you need a full POSIX environment or package management like Cygwin or WSL provides
- you need tools beyond the bundled 100+ utilities
- you require actively developed or officially licensed software (no license file, sparse recent activity)

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: cli, developer-tools, file-system, package-manager
- domain: developer-tools, windows
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: unix-utilities, gnu-on-windows, cygwin-alternative, nsis-installer, win32-binaries, command-line

## Member repositories
- bmatzelle/gow (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:47.258186+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:43:08.572964+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - homepage: https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow/wiki (fetched 2026-08-29T08:39:20.321965+00:00, sha bf497034ff79)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.