[ANNOUNCE] Git for Windows 2.44.0-rc2

[Johannes Schindelin]

Dear Git users,

I hereby announce that Git for Windows 2.44.0-rc2 is available from:

    https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/tag/v2.44.0-rc2.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-rc2.
  * 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-rc2-64-bit.exe | d188ba8cb0d36fda22fa12759de00c9e23cc45f57521f05184d3cf8c36a6fec3
Git-2.44.0-rc2-32-bit.exe | 12149c903330ccae8298a6890d3eed49939393c3a806775ef0ddb27674315556
PortableGit-2.44.0-rc2-64-bit.7z.exe | 4b753124cec6aa6635001c48716b249cc43a37db10aec3f0cccfc68d6d20ac7c
PortableGit-2.44.0-rc2-32-bit.7z.exe | b8cfa7ae7549a3c12a4e19fb9598e16161858075bba3df4110f0585e2476bb5a
MinGit-2.44.0-rc2-64-bit.zip | 6db61b0855f4dd67770a221debea944c7a69cb8fa37acb5b1c85c10ea914464e
MinGit-2.44.0-rc2-32-bit.zip | e92da5248e2165c1a25fcfce0469754cee218e8954bfe7711890d06803be1659
MinGit-2.44.0-rc2-busybox-64-bit.zip | 117839c34a0dba2323d46bf1c66172b4452c9323ab8f917266ef088aec1dc118
MinGit-2.44.0-rc2-busybox-32-bit.zip | d9820cccb91d80f46914c047f65424599cb29e87ff7a015e9fcd82b84e7b9abd
Git-2.44.0-rc2-64-bit.tar.bz2 | e6346c6ca380035642334d81480f24e74dfaed56f3b8d8313df6989c7b7cad11
Git-2.44.0-rc2-32-bit.tar.bz2 | d94aee3941b289f6b1ebf20cca84165628603cce71a067c44338b20e380deaa3

Ciao,
Johannes