What it is?

'Portable Sandbox' is a set of development tools (for Windows) combined and configured as one independent folder. You can move this folder anywhere: to another drive or even an another computer. After that, all tools and projects in folder 'portable' should works fine.

When do I need it?

• You need a development environment which is not binded to your operating system.
• You want to prepare the development environment that will be easy to copy, move, restore, share, or reproduce.
• You don't want install any application.

How does it work?

Launch bash-shell.cmd or cmd-shell.cmd script to start the environment. You can also create and run your own scripts. For example, look into visual-studio-code.cmd to easly recreate simmilar script for another program.

The entire tool is just a folder 'portable' that contains a little number of scripts and also sub-folders dedicated for specified tools. All settings for launching tools and building projects comes from script files located inside the Portable Sandbox and no instalation is required.

Folder structure:

• [portable]
  • [projects] (working directory, sample projects)
    • [gcc_sample]
    • [java_sample]
    • [node_sample]
    • [python_sample]
    • [r_sample]
    • [rust_sample]
  • [tools] (compilers, editors, SCM, i.e)
    • [gcc]
    • [git]
    • [java]
    • [node]
    • [python]
    • [r]
    • [rust]
    • [vscode]
  • bash-shell.cmd (Git-bash terminal)
  • cmd-shell.cmd (Command Prompt CMD or Windows Terminal)
  • ev.cmd (configuration script - this is the heart of Portable Sandbox)
  • visual-studio-code.cmd (coVS Code launcher)
  • visual-studio-code (bash script launcher for VS code)
  • [.ssh] (SSH configuration folder)
  • [.gnupg] (GnuPG configuration folder)

How to start?

1. Download the last 'Portable Sandbox' release. The Archive 'portable.zip' is available on github: https://github.com/stack-pl/portable

2. Unzip the archive you just downloaded in step 1 to your prefered location. That will be the Portable Sandbox base folder. For example it can be c:\portable.

3. Download and unpack the "Git for Windows portable". Application is availiable at https://git-scm.com/download/win. Unpack the archive into '.\portable\tools\git' sub-folder.

4. Verify if Git is correctly unpacked. To do this:

   • launch script .\portable\bash-shell.cmd (XTerm window with Bash shell running should appear),
   • command 'git --version' should return a version number.

5. Download "VS Code" .Zip archive version: https://code.visualstudio.com/Download# Direct link to the latest release: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/?dv=winzip Unpack downloaded file into '.\portable\tools\vscode' sub-folder.

6. Verify if VS Code is correctly unpacked. To do this:

   • launch script .\portable\visual-studio-code.cmd to run VS Code editor.

7. Depending of your needs, install another tools in '.\portable\tools' directory. Follow 'portable.txt' instructions in particular folders located in '.\portable\tools' to do so.