What packages should I install with Cygwin to make it not bloated but also have everything I would need as a developer? [closed]

Update: I’ve switched over to WSL since posting this answer. If you’re still using Cygwin give it a try. It’s not a drop-in replacement but it’s nicer in a number of ways.

Personally, I find having to exit Cygwin just to install new packages annoying enough to try to avoid the just-in-time strategy, and fortunately there’s a tool to make this much easier: apt-cyg. This way you actually can just-in-time install packages without having to quit Cygwin.

That said, here’s a list of common packages you might want to install, whether via the installer or via apt-cyg:

• bash-completion
• lynx (to install apt-cyg), wget and curl
• vim
• hg, git, and maybe svn and git-svn
• diffutils and patchutils
• python and python3

There’s tons of Cygwin setup posts out on the internet too, I referenced this one.