This is a release candidate for Cmder 2.0. It makes the accumulated work from #2898 available for community testing while keeping the old 1.x line available separately.
Thanks to @daxgames and all contributors for the Windows Terminal, launcher, shell startup, and packaging work. David has moved his unfinished follow-ups into his execution backlog, so they can be completed without holding the current line on development.
Choose your download
| Package | Terminal emulator | Git for Windows |
|---|---|---|
cmder_full.zip / cmder_full.7z
| Windows Terminal | Included |
cmder_nogit.zip
| Windows Terminal | Use your external Git if needed |
cmder_conemu_full.zip / cmder_conemu_full.7z
| ConEmu | Included |
cmder_conemu_nogit.zip
| ConEmu | Use your external Git if needed |
cmder_launcher.zip / cmder_launcher.7z
| Your chosen terminal | Included |
cmder_launcher_nogit.zip
| Your chosen terminal | Use your external Git if needed |
nogit replaces mini in the 2.0 package names. The existing 1.x release assets keep their names. See the upgrade guide before updating an existing installation.
What this RC includes
- The complete development integration in #2898 and dax's launcher/packaging fixes in #3128.
- Safe handling of malformed launcher arguments and oversized configuration paths, plus executable-path error handling (#3119).
- First
/CWindows Terminal settings initialization that preserves existing settings; native ConEmu32 selection is retained. - The shipped
init.batcompatibility shim, TCC/TCCLE helper-default restoration, clearer launcher help, and documented generated-cache behavior. - A rewritten contribution guide, short feature branches targeting
main, and retirement of automatic merges intodevelopment. - The original #3107 hardening contribution, with its author credit retained, applied consistently to all three affected workflows.
Verification and remaining acceptance
The reviewed source passed Win32/x64 Release builds, production-source regression tests, AddressSanitizer runs, PowerShell 5.1/7 checks, workflow validation, and package fixtures. The tagged build, main tests, and CodeQL passed.
Before publication, all nine real archives were downloaded and checked against both hashes.txt and GitHub asset digests. Archive integrity, declared vendor inclusion/exclusion, absence of private user configuration, both startup files, and identical launcher bytes/version passed. An extracted full ZIP passed isolated fresh/cached CMD, Windows PowerShell 5.1, and packaged Git Bash startup with synthetic user-profile hooks and an environment containing no inherited credentials. These are shell checks; visible terminal and broad upgrade acceptance remain below.
7-Zip compatibility: use a current 7-Zip reader for .7z assets. 7-Zip 22.01 cannot decode the ARM64 executable filter used in these archives; use the ZIP equivalent if your reader is older.
Verified launcher SHA-256: 482c2bdcafd4e8f31aac77692e9783f50b58ecb0f1b14f5c50703c17a72860be. hashes.txt SHA-256: bc730d3c5cd4e1e068ec672d844fe5e118173be388d1b324c84b1a29200f74e2.
This RC still needs community tests of real Windows Terminal/ConEmu sessions, custom profiles, fresh installation, existing-config upgrades, /C, and external Git. The TCC/TCCLE default assignments are restored from the previous implementation; broader shell compatibility reports remain welcome, and installing or testing a TCC host is not a completion gate for that restoration. This RC is not a final stable 2.0 release or a claim of Windows 7/ARM64 runtime acceptance.
Bundled Git maintenance: these immutable RC1 Full archives still contain Git 2.52.0.windows.1; they have not been rebuilt with the later Git security release. The vendor update in #3093 remains a separate review. The required UCRT64 compatibility fix is now merged and tested in current source through #3137; the separate stable 1.3.26 Full packages already include Git 2.56.0.windows.4.
The script-hygiene work in #3118 is completed in later current source through #3135/#3136, rather than retroactively included in RC1. Still open: vendor integrity enforcement, launcher hardening, diagnostic secret redaction, and Action SHA pinning.
Preserved work and review links
- Exact pre-integration 1.x source: the original baseline, commit
2b25c570a2b58c3c46b7f672a0a25677970aa9c7. The maintainedlegacy/1.xbranch now also has selective backports released as stable 1.3.26. - Live legacy/1.x to main comparison, hiding whitespace.
- Exact baseline to this RC commit, hiding whitespace.
- Completed independent 1.x release checklist.
- Upgrade/cache acceptance, David's recovered follow-ups, and admin default-branch handoff.
The default-branch setting remains an admin task. New ongoing work targets main; all existing development work remains available, with unfinished requirements continuing through feature PRs to main.
Please report the exact archive, Windows version, shell, terminal emulator, and steps when testing. Compare your downloaded archive with hashes.txt before extracting it.