Comparing WinGet and Chocolatey

A Real-World Look at Package Management Tools

Agenda

• Comparison overview.
• What platforms are we running on?
• Compare functionality and performance.
• What are our integration options?
• Community packages, submissions and checks.
• Privacy.
• Summary.

Comparison Overview

• Used Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (patched to April 2023).
• Latest WinGet (1.4.1) and Chocolatey CLI (2.0.0-beta20230426).
• “Chocolatey” means “Chocolatey Products”
• Comparisons made April and May 2023.

Platforms

Supported Client Operating Systems

⁽¹⁾ Home, Pro, Education & Enteprise editions.

Supported Server Operating Systems

Known Working Operating Systems

There may be other PackageManagement providers for Chocolatey but ChocolateyGet seems to be the most used and recommended by the community.

Integrations

Chocolatey PowerShell Module and DSC Resource

First commit in October 2017 by Gael Colas (gaelcolas). Part of the Chocolatey Community GitHub Organization. PowerShell module AND DSC Resources in the one project. PowerShell module can be used separately. Actively maintained.

History of the official Chocolatey DSC Resource

• The first commit made by Steve Murawski in October 2014.
• Early code was primarily from Lawrence Gripper and Eugene Bekker, with some community help.
• Rob Reynolds started to heavily commit to it in April 2017.
• Paul Broadwith started to maintain it in October 2018.

Managing Chocolatey - what do we need to cover?

The five fundamental areas for Chocolatey:

• Installing Chocolatey CLI.
• Packages.
• Sources.
• Features.
• Config.

Lets Look At cChoco

Installing Chocolatey CLI

cChocoInstaller InstallChoco
{
    # required!
    InstallDir = 'c:\choco'
}

All it does is install Chocolatey!

But you need to install Chocolatey before you do anything else because it’s not installed automatically.

Installing Chocolatey CLI In Your Org

Environment chocolateyDownloadUrl
{
    Name       = 'chocolateyDownloadUrl'
    Path       = $false
    Value      = 'https://your-internal-repo.com/chocolatey.1.1.0.nupkg'
    Ensure     = 'present'
}
cChocoInstaller InstallChoco
{
    InstallDir = 'c:\choco'
    DependsOn  = '[Environment]chocolateyDownloadUrl'
}

PR Submitted by timothy-mcroy-cengage.

Installing A Single Package

cChocoPackageInstaller InstallGoogleChromeWithVersion
{
    Name        = 'googlechrome'
    Ensure      = 'present'
    Version     = 101.0.4951.41
    Source      = 'https://internal-repo.com/api/v2/'
    # Also supports Params and MinimumVersion

    DependsOn   = '[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco'
}

Installing Multiple Packages At Once

cChocoPackageInstallerSet InstallBaselinePackages
{
    Name      = 'googlechrome', 'git', 'putty'
    Ensure    = 'present'
    # Also supports Source

    DependsOn = '[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco'
}

Manage Sources

cChocoSource AddInternalRepoSource
{
    Name      = 'my-org'
    Ensure    = 'present'
    Source    = 'https://internal-repo.com/api/v2/'
    # Also supports Priority and Credential

    DependsOn = '[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco'
}

Cannot enable or disable a source.

Admin only, self-service or proxy bypass is not supported.

Enable or Disable Features

cChocoFeature allowGlobalConfirmation
{
    FeatureName = 'allowGlobalConfirmation'
    Ensure      = 'present'

    DependsOn   = '[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco'
}

Changing Config

cChocoConfig UseVirusTotal
{
    ConfigName = 'virusScannerType'
    Ensure     = 'present'
    Value      = 'virustotal'

    DependsOn   = '[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco'
}

Compare The Options

• Installing Chocolatey CLI.
• Packages.
• Sources.
• Features
• Config.

Chocolatey CLI

Chocolatey Packages

Chocolatey Sources

Chocolatey Features and Config

Overview

• The ChocolateyGet PackageManagement provider:
  • Native PowerShell integration.
  • Simple. Easy to use.
  • Mature - been around since 2016.
  • The PowerShell PackageManagement provider has limitations.

• The ‘Chocolatey’ Chocolatey Community module:
  • Current version is a 0.2.0-preview002 release.
  • Feel more mature than its age suggests.
  • Written by Gael Colas.
  • Can be used as a PowerShell module or as a DSC resource.

• The Chocolatey Official cChoco DSC Resource
  • The official DSC resource.
  • Been around for a long time and is mature.
  • Hasn’t had a lot of love for some time.
  • Is missing the pin feature.

Summary

• We know what options to manage Chocolatey with DSC.
• We know what the cChoco code looks like.
• We know what features are offered with the providers, modules and DSC resources.
• And we hopefully now have a better informed decision about what we should use.

Resources

• Chocolatey-OneGet.
  • First commit November 2014 by Garrett Serack (fearthecowboy).
• Chocolatier.
  • First commit on January 2020 by Ethan Bergstrom (ethanbergstrom).

Resources

• ChocolateyGet.
  • First commit on September 2016 by Jianyun (jianyunt).
• Chocolatey Community Chocolatey PowerShell Module and DSC Resource
  • First commit in October 2017

	blog.pauby.com	Paul Broadwith
	@pauby
	github.com/pauby
	pau.by/linkedin

pau.by/talks