[ANNOUNCE] Git for Windows 2.44.0-rc1

[Johannes Schindelin]

Dear Git users,

I hereby announce that Git for Windows 2.44.0-rc1 is available from:

    https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/tag/v2.44.0-rc1.windows.1

Changes since Git for Windows v2.43.0 (November 20th 2023)

Git for Windows for Windows v2.44 is the last version to support for
Windows 7 and for Windows 8, see MSYS2's corresponding deprecation
announcement (Git for Windows relies on MSYS2 for components such as
Bash and Perl).

Please also note that the 32-bit variant of Git for Windows is
deprecated; Its last official release is planned for 2025.

New Features

  * Comes with Git v2.44.0-rc1.
  * Comes with libfido2 v1.14.0.
  * Comes with the MSYS2 runtime (Git for Windows flavor) based on
    Cygwin v3.4.10.
  * Comes with Perl v5.38.2.
  * Git for Windows learned to detect and use native Windows support
    for ANSI sequences, which allows using 24-bit colors in terminal
    windows.
  * Comes with Git LFS v3.4.1.
  * The repository viewer Tig that is included in Git for Windows can
    now be called also directly from PowerShell/CMD.
  * Comes with OpenSSH v9.6.P1.
  * Comes with Bash v5.2.26.
  * Comes with GNU TLS v3.8.3.
  * Comes with OpenSSL v3.2.1.
  * Comes with cURL v8.6.0.
  * Comes with GNU Privacy Guard v2.4.4.

Bug Fixes

  * The 32-bit variant of Git for Windows was missing some MSYS2
    runtime updates, which was addressed; Do note 32-bit support is
    phased out.
  * The Git for Windows installer showed cut-off text in some setups.
    This has been fixed.
  * The git credential-manager --help command previously would not find
    a page to display in the web browser, which has been fixed.
  * A couple of bugs that could cause Git Bash to hang in certain
    scenarios were fixed.

Git-2.44.0-rc1-64-bit.exe | d8157edf354afc66326db927de04e2dae054f55adbf3035bc9086478a5ecb423
Git-2.44.0-rc1-32-bit.exe | d53b5043216f5be5b154c5fe79e9cfd8c3d2ef2e6263cf3f3a9d358fc60843a4
PortableGit-2.44.0-rc1-64-bit.7z.exe | 1ee36ef5676e2536f869e6b89efcede826960b78f83cb1a685b9608f045a1582
PortableGit-2.44.0-rc1-32-bit.7z.exe | f96a638497b19d9d8c578fe1a6b54cb29c793c08ceaf204cbaa91ecd3583ee07
MinGit-2.44.0-rc1-64-bit.zip | bf13ebe8626699656e5adf659c905c6306b87917bb664fc52377011054771783
MinGit-2.44.0-rc1-32-bit.zip | 468b33306aca3f605e9fb64075a45a057ae2b72bb5aae42c2e37cf2a9846e37b
MinGit-2.44.0-rc1-busybox-64-bit.zip | aa667eb43187b7515d539d70ffdc3f12523a03f9bb546584f46342f6673170fc
MinGit-2.44.0-rc1-busybox-32-bit.zip | 5f902ec741b3e10dcce1e9cb06ed82f04668c9ea680030f52a194a7d869b2aa3
Git-2.44.0-rc1-64-bit.tar.bz2 | 7b6481465f1080c70e80df448b1fe7ece09407b3d580a8986f7934b6b3529e60
Git-2.44.0-rc1-32-bit.tar.bz2 | 8eded6886d07440084ce29dac6ce66dfa31795861d33c1a6aeb56bad0e0b31e6

Ciao,
Johannes