What are the differences between the Links folder and the Packages folder in %LocalAppData%?

[ooker777]

I see that this path is registered in PATH:

C:\Users\ganuo\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\

What is the use of this? If all they do is to have binaries being shortcut to C:\Users\ganuo\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages, then why isn't it just be registered in PATH by default?

As a consequence, default pathing doesn't always work. See simonmichael/hledger#2458

[florelis]

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages has a separate folder for each (portable) package you install. This makes it easier to manage. For example, uninstalling a package is essentially deleting its folder, and it has no effect on any of the other packages. This isn't added to %Path% because you would have to add one entry for each package you install, which would make the %Path% variable grow very quickly if you install many apps.

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links has shortcuts for all your installed packages, so you only need to have this one entry in your %Path% to use all of your packages.

The links are created only for specific executables that are listed in the package manifest. The issue you reported for hledger was because the manifest didn't declare that it needed links for all the executables in the package, and the fix was to add the ones that were missing.