Scoop vs winget

[wizdude]

i'm just curious. with Microsoft's winget getting a lot of traction these days, what the main selling point or feature differences between Scoop and winget?

for anyone using this to automate machine installs and the like, there is a lot of time invested - regardless which tool/solution you use.

has Scoop got a bigger repository?

i've just started investing time in winget for SOE deployment. should I be spending time with Scoop instead?

i only heard about this project today.

many thanks :-)

cheers, Wiz!!

[niheaven]

There are many discussions regarding scoop and chocolatey, winget, etc., and you can see winget adopt many scoop features.

But nowadays, the main difference between scoop and winget is that winget is a installer manager, while scoop is a package manager.

tldr, winget just helps you find apps, and installs the app likes it usually is, to the location it's usually located; scoop tries to extract the app's installer and put the program's files in a user-wide central location, to avoid UAC, if possible.

[salim-b]

But nowadays, the main difference between scoop and winget is that winget is a installer manager, while scoop is a package manager.

Amusingly, this quite contrasts with the following statement on the Chocolatey and Winget Comparison wiki page:

Simpler than packaging. Scoop isn't a package manager, rather it reads plain JSON manifests that describe how to install a program and its dependencies.

(I guess that just proves terminology (naming in general) isn't easy. 😅)

[rashil2000]

You could think of winget as "the agent to download and run the installer". That's all, everything else is the same. It just invokes the GUI installer. All of the things related to installation - like installing to the default location, creating registry keys, adding binaries and shortcuts etc. is done by the installer itself, winget plays no role.

Scoop is completely different. It offers full control, extracts and installs to a common (and configurable) location, manages persistent data etc. It is mostly self-contained - no part outside the Scoop directory is modified - and it does not touch the registry and any machine-specific settings.

That said, because of the way Scoop handles installations, the out-of-the-box experience can differ for some applications, when compared to running their official installers.

[ghost]

Hi,
if it doesn't touch the system registry, how programs add their keys to the registry then? lots of programs rely on certain registry keys present on system to work, how does Scoop handle that? thanks

[rashil2000]

Scoop itself does not touch the registry, but an installed program (during its runtime) can still interface with it.

[rasa]

Scoop doesn't touch the registry by design, but many programs provide scripts that the user can run to update the registry, if they want.

[ghost]

I see, thank you, so does it mean I can install any program I want using Scoop from Scoop buckets, then move Scoop directory to another computer, use this method to reinstall Scoop on new computer and start using programs without redownloading them? (I already tried that method and it worked, but need to know any program I install through Scoop will support that)

what I really want to know is that, does Scoop make programs portable? even those that heavily rely on system registry or install Windows services?

from what you say, I think you mean during program installations, they don't create registry keys, only when I run programs I install they have the chance to install registry keys and possiblity ask for elevation of privileges?

I tried Sandboxie for a lot of programs but it was extremely disappointing all of the programs I tried failed with errors and only 1 of them barely worked, Sandboxie has so many compatibility issues. that's why I'm looking at Scoop as a better alternative, to make my programs portable.

thanks

[rashil2000]

I see, thank you, so does it mean I can install any program I want using Scoop from Scoop buckets, then move Scoop directory to another computer, use this method to reinstall Scoop on new computer and start using programs without redownloading them? (I already tried that method and it worked, but need to know any program I install through Scoop will support that)

It should mostly work - but if an application creates files/registry entries specific to a machine, then you will have to reinstall that application.

what I really want to know is that, does Scoop make programs portable? even those that heavily rely on system registry or install Windows services?

Scoop does not make programs portable. It installs programs. Whether they are portable depends on the program developer.

from what you say, I think you mean during program installations, they don't create registry keys, only when I run programs I install they have the chance to install registry keys and possiblity ask for elevation of privileges?

Precisely.

I tried Sandboxie for a lot of programs but it was extremely disappointing all of the programs I tried failed with errors and only 1 of them barely worked, Sandboxie has so many compatibility issues. that's why I'm looking at Scoop as a better alternative, to make my programs portable.

Scoop and Sandboxie are different applications with different purposes. Scoop is a package manager, while Sandboxie is a way to run programs in an isolated way to prevent possible harm to a machine.

[joshjm]

IMO id love to see this breakdown added to the main readme, It's exactly what I need to know about scoop given that ive already used winget

[rashil2000]

I have added a link to this discussion in the Wiki: https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Scoop/wiki/Chocolatey-and-Winget-Comparison

[Aragorn450]

I have added a link to this discussion in the Wiki: https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Scoop/wiki/Chocolatey-and-Winget-Comparison

You should also update the Overview section of the Wiki Home as well as the So What page as both of their links to the Chocolatey comparison are broken.

[rashil2000]

Done!

[nbolton]

For situations where WinGet is not installed by default, Scoop is easier to install than WinGet because it doesn't have dependencies.

Scoop

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser;
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://get.scoop.sh | Invoke-Expression;

Winget

$progressPreference = 'silentlyContinue'
Write-Information "Downloading WinGet and its dependencies..."
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/getwinget -OutFile Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx -OutFile Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/releases/download/v2.8.6/Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.x64.appx -OutFile Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.x64.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.x64.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

Docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/