1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
|
---
title: "Improving Powershell Profile"
description: "For years I've been a fan of the linux bash, with easy support for ssh-keys, colorized directory listings and git info the prompt. But at the same time, I really love Powershell. I have finally found some usefull Powershell modules that has made me switch completly to Powershell in the terminal."
tags: ["powershell"]
date: 2020-06-18T00:00:00+01:00
draft: false
---
For years I've been a fan of the linux bash, with easy support for ssh-keys, colorized directory listings and git info the prompt. But at the same time, I really love Powershell. I have finally found some usefull Powershell modules that has made me switch completly to Powershell in the terminal.
<!--more-->
## Colorized Directory Listings
The first module I'm going to introduce is the **Get-ChildItemColor** module by Joon Ro ([github.com/joonro/Get-ChildItemColor](https://github.com/joonro/Get-ChildItemColor)).
This module will override the `Out-Default` cmdlet and give you colorized directory listings when using `Get-ChildItem` or `ls`.
You can easilly install it from the [Powershell Gallery](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Get-ChildItemColor).
```powershell
Install-Module -Name Get-ChildItemColor -Scope CurrentUser -AllowClobber
```
**NOTE:** The `-AllowClobber` flag is neccessary for it to override the `Out-Default` cmdlet.
Now you can just add `Import-Module -Name Get-ChildItemColor` to your Powershell profile.
## Git Information In Your Prompt
The second module we're going to add is the `posh-git` module by Keith Dahlby ([github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git](https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git)). This will override your default prompt and add git information when in a folder with git initialized. **NOTE:** This will not override your custom prompt, if you have defined one in your Powershell profile.
This module is also available from the [Powershell Gallery](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/posh-git). Currently, v1.0 is in beta, and is neccessary if you want support for Powershell Core 6.0 and up. Version v0.x only supports Windows Powershell.
```powershell
Install-Module -Name posh-git -Scope CurrentUser -AllowPrerelease -Force
```
To be able to install the v1.0-beta we must include the `-AllowPrerelease` flag.
Next, just add it to your Powershell profile `Import-Module -Name posh-git`.
## Using SSH Keys With Remote Git Repositories
The last module is `posh-sshell` which is a helper module for your SSH client and used to be a part of the `posh-git` module. This has now been separated into it's own module by the same creator Keith Dahlby ([github.com/dahlbyk/posh-sshell](https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-sshell)).
As with the others, this is available from the [Powershell Gallery](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/posh-sshell).
```powershell
Install-Module -Name posh-sshell -Scope CurrentUser
```
There is one cmdlet in particular that we're interrested in, which is the `Start-SshAgent` cmdlet. This will start your SSH agent wether you're using the Windows-native OpenSSH client, OpenSSH client that ships with Git for Windows or putty's Pageant client.
If you are using the Windows-native OpenSSH client, make sure that the service is not `disabled`.
```powershell
Get-Service -Name ssh-agent | Select-Object Status, Name, StartType
```
If `StartType` says `disabled` you can run the following command to enable it or else `Start-SshAgent` will fail.
```powershell
Get-Service -Name ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartType Manual
```
Next, add the following to your profile.
```powershell
Import-Module -Name posh-sshell
Start-SshAgent -Quiet
```
When the ssh-agent is started it will look for ssh-keys in your `$env:USERPROFILE\.ssh` folder. If you add SSH keys after the ssh-agent has started you can either restart it with
```powershell
Stop-SshAgent
Start-SshAgent
```
or add it to the ssh-agent with
```powershell
# Adds $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_rsa to the SSH agent.
Add-SshKey
# OR
# Adds $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\mykey to the SSH agent.
Add-SshKey ~\.ssh\mykey
```
## Conclusion
Now, atleast in my opinion you have a more similar workflow in Powershell that you would have in linux. It's really cool to see how far Powershell (and Windows) has come in the field of developer workflow.
|
