Use-Zig

Use-Zig is a PowerShell script that can be used for installing multiple Zig (ziglang.org) versions and switching between different versions on-the-fly.

I use this script in my own development environments and the current state of the script is currently "it works fine for me". For the time being I will be updating it based on my personal needs and intend to keep it as simple and generic as possible.

Prerequisities

It's highly recommended to use the latest Powershell 7 (the classic MSI package, not the MS Store version - because it behaves in weird ways). It can be obtained from here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/install/installing-powershell-core-on-windows?view=powershell-7.1

The main problem with the built in Powershell (provided by Windows by default) is that extracting the Zig package is very slow compared to Powershell 7.

Usage

Install (if not already installed) and use a specific version of Zig:

.\Use-Zig.ps1 0.7.1

Install (if not already installed) and use latest master build:

.\Use-Zig.ps1 master

Update master:

.\Use-Zig.ps1 master -Update

Example session:

> .\Use-Zig.ps1 0.7.1
Downloading Zig (0.7.1) from https://ziglang.org/download/0.7.1/zig-windows-x86_64-0.7.1.zip
Installing Zig (0.7.1) to C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Zigs\x86_64

> zig version
0.7.1

> .\Use-Zig.ps1 master
Downloading Zig (0.8.0-dev.1140+9270aae07) from https://ziglang.org/builds/zig-windows-x86_64-0.8.0-dev.1140+9270aae07.zip
Installing Zig (0.8.0-dev.1140+9270aae07) to C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Zigs\x86_64

> zig version
0.8.0-dev.1140+9270aae07

> Use-Zig.ps1 master -Update
Version 'master' is already up-to-date

The Path

When opening a new shell, this script needs to be run once for the junction C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Zigs\current to appear in the Path.

This junction always points to the Zig version that has been activated by the script the last time it was run.

You can add the path to the junction to your Path environment variable to be able to use a Zig installation immediately in a new shell, without running this script first. This is recommended. This script does not do this automatically for you, because I really don't want to fiddle around with your environment variables.

How it works

The Zig versions are installed by default in C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Zigs. You can change the location by modifying the $ZIGS_PATH variable in the script.

A junction (basically a link) is created in C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Zigs\current which always points to the installation of the Zig version specified when running the script for the last time. This junction is added to the Path environment variable of the current shell, so that the Zig executable can be used immediately.