How to use Zsh with msysGit

Question

msysGit comes with an Explorer shell extension showing Git Bash Here in the context menu of a folder which opens a Bash prompt in the selected folder.

How can I use Zsh instead of Bash as the shell for this command window?

Answer 1

The built-in Bash that msysGit provides is built on top of conhost.exe. That makes it terrible compared to, e.g., xterm (clipboard, text input/output, history, etc.).

The workaround I'm currently using when on Windows is I use the latest msysGit + Cygwin mintty with Bash. That gives me a decent shell with a recent and fast Git. With that approach you can use other shells, like Zsh. Beware that the tradeoffs include Git not being able to use your PAGER (I had to alias things like git log to git log|less).