microsoft / microsoft/winget-cli

Add a flag to install/upgrade packages without creating desktop shortcuts

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Dominant language
C++
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Avg merge
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Description

Description of the new feature/enhancement

Add a new flag to give the user the option to add/ upgrade a package without creating a desktop shortcut

I think there are many people out there that, like me, love to keep their desktops clean, without any shortcuts.
So every time I run "winget upgrade --all" I need to go to the desktop and manually delete all the created shortcuts.
The same happens when adding a new package or upgrading a specific one.

What I do believe will help a lot it's a new flag. Something like "-ns"(no shortcut). So the final command should be something like "winget upgrade --all -ns".

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

At this point, I don't know the complexity of this task in terms of implementation.

The winget-cli is already an amazing tool and I like it a lot. I believe this feature could make the winget even better, but again, I don't know how complex it could be as every installer is different from the others.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the winget add and upgrade command paths and how installers create desktop shortcuts. Determine whether a common option can apply across different installers, including upgrade --all, then verify that the proposed flag suppresses shortcut creation without preventing package installation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
cli, tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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