WMF v5.0 Preview’s PowerShellGet module is pretty nice, but it is lacking some functionality. Today I went through and added two new features: Install-Module also Imports module and NuGet.exe is now located with the module.
Install-Module Also Imports the Module
… even when it doesn’t install the module, it still imports the module. This allows for all Import-Module statements to be replaced with Install-Module statements.
PSGet had this feature, and that made it just a little more user friendly. But, I also think I understand why Microsoft didn’t implement this feature. It seems to complicate the lifecycle of when to Update the modules. How do you answer these questions:
- If the current version on the gallery is newer than the installed version, should the installed version be updated?
- If Install-Module replaces the usage of Import-Module how does the management of which versions are on which servers play out? Does it break Server Management consistency?
I choose to ignore those concerns, and I’ll circle back to them at a later date. For now, it can replace the Import-Module statement.
NuGet.exe is now located with the Module
There were actually 3 updates with this one:
- NuGet.exe is no longer downloaded to %UserAppData%\Local\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PowerShellGet\NuGet.exe. It’s now downloaded to %ProgramFiles%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PowerShellGet. The same location as the rest of the module.
- A default NuGet.config is installed to the same location if it doesn’t exist.
- The prompt which asks if you want to download NuGet.exe has been removed.
If NuGet.exe is downloaded into a user specific folder, then it has to download it for every user which runs Install-Module. Since PowerShell scripts can be run by both privileged users and by service accounts on a server, this made for multiple copies.
And, a default NuGet.config file lowers the cost on new users to find the config file and update it.
Since I’m starting to work on these enhancements, I’ll try to keep this community feed updated with stable builds on a weekly basis. (It doesn’t have the latest at the time of this posting, my apologizes.)
