🚀 [Feature]: Support installing prerelease PowerShell versions by MariusStorhaug · Pull Request #16 · PSModule/Install-PowerShell

Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) · 2026-02-17T09:45:44Z

The action now supports installing prerelease PowerShell versions (e.g. 7.4.0-preview.5, 7.5.0-rc.1) on all platforms. You can install a specific prerelease version by passing the full version string, or install the latest prerelease by setting the new Prerelease input to true.

Fixes 🚀 [Feature]: Support installing prerelease PowerShell versions #15

New `Prerelease` input

A new Prerelease boolean input has been added, following the same UX pattern as Install-PSResource -Prerelease. When set to true and Version is latest, the action resolves to the latest prerelease from the PowerShell/PowerShell GitHub releases.

Usage	`Version`	`Prerelease`	Result
Latest stable	`latest` (default)	`false` (default)	Resolves to latest stable via `/releases/latest`
Latest prerelease	`latest`	`true`	Resolves to latest prerelease via `/releases` API
Specific stable	`7.5.0`	—	Installs `7.5.0` directly
Specific prerelease	`7.4.0-preview.5`	—	Installs `7.4.0-preview.5` directly (no flag needed)

Installing the latest prerelease

- uses: PSModule/Install-PowerShell@v1
  with:
    Prerelease: true

Installing a specific prerelease version

- uses: PSModule/Install-PowerShell@v1
  with:
    Version: 7.4.0-preview.5

Linux package conflict handling

On Linux, the PowerShell project publishes multiple .deb variants (powershell, powershell-lts, powershell-preview) that all provide /usr/bin/pwsh and conflict with each other. The action now:

Uses specific asset name filters (powershell_ for stable, powershell-preview_ for prerelease) instead of a broad regex that could match the wrong package variant (e.g. powershell-lts instead of powershell)
Removes all existing PowerShell packages before installing to avoid dpkg conflicts when switching versions
Verifies the installed version matches the requested version after install, failing early with a clear error if not
Applies the same fixes for RPM-based distributions

Windows prerelease handling

On Windows, preview builds install to $env:ProgramFiles\PowerShell\7-preview\ instead of $env:ProgramFiles\PowerShell\7\. The action now correctly handles:

Downgrade detection by stripping the prerelease suffix before [version] comparison (Windows PowerShell 5.1 lacks [semver])
Uninstall registry filtering to match Preview display names when the current version is a preview
Cross-prerelease version changes (same base version, different label) by forcing an uninstall-then-install cycle

PATH management

After installation, the action adds the PowerShell install directory to GITHUB_PATH on all platforms. This ensures subsequent workflow steps using shell: pwsh resolve to the newly installed version — including preview builds whose install directory is not on the runner's default PATH.

- Update action input description to document prerelease version support - Fix Windows downgrade detection to handle prerelease version strings by stripping the prerelease suffix before casting to [version] - Fix Windows uninstall registry filter to match Preview display names when uninstalling a preview build - Add prerelease version (7.6.0-preview.6) to test workflow matrix - Update test verification to detect preview installs on Windows (preview builds install to a separate directory) - Update README with prerelease documentation and usage example Closes #15

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds support for installing specific prerelease PowerShell versions (e.g. 7.6.0-preview.6, 7.5.0-rc.1) by allowing users to pass the exact prerelease string via the existing Version input, plus updates docs and CI coverage to reflect prerelease behavior.

Changes:

Document prerelease version support in action.yml and README.md.
Update Windows downgrade/uninstall logic to better handle prerelease version strings.
Extend the CI workflow matrix and verification logic to include a prerelease version on Windows.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
`action.yml`	Documents prerelease input; adjusts Windows downgrade detection and uninstall registry filtering for preview/rc installs.
`README.md`	Adds prerelease support notes and a prerelease usage example; updates input docs.
`.github/workflows/Action-Test.yml`	Adds a prerelease to the test matrix and updates version verification for Windows preview installs.

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action.yml

- Add 'Prerelease' boolean input (default: false), similar to Install-PSResource's -Prerelease switch - When Prerelease is true and Version is 'latest', resolve to the latest prerelease from the PowerShell/PowerShell GitHub releases API - Explicit prerelease version strings (e.g. 7.6.0-preview.6) continue to work directly without the Prerelease flag - Add prerelease resolution to all 3 platform steps (Linux bash, macOS bash, Windows PowerShell 5.1) - Update test workflow with 'prerelease' matrix entry - Update README with Prerelease input docs and latest prerelease example

…to GITHUB_PATH After MSI install on Windows, the running shell may still resolve the pre-installed pwsh from PATH. Two fixes: 1. action.yml: Append the install directory to GITHUB_PATH so that subsequent 'shell: pwsh' steps in the consumer's workflow resolve to the version we just installed (critical for preview builds whose 7-preview dir is not on the runner's default PATH, but also defensive for stable upgrades). 2. Action-Test.yml: Verification step now always launches pwsh from the known install directory on Windows (both stable and prerelease), instead of relying on $PSVersionTable from the current shell.

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Pull request overview

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action.yml

.github/workflows/Action-Test.yml

action.yml

- Add null/empty checks for prerelease resolution on all 3 platforms (Linux jq // empty + bash validation, macOS same, Windows null check) - Fix prerelease downgrade detection: force uninstall when same base version but different prerelease labels (MSI can't handle in-place) - Fix inconsistent regex escaping: -preview|-rc (not -preview|\-rc) - Fix StartsWith over-matching in registry filter: use regex with delimiter-aware boundary instead of string prefix match - Extract major version dynamically for install path (not hardcoded 7) - Add GITHUB_PATH updates for Linux/macOS preview builds - Add null check in test workflow prerelease resolution

The GITHUB_PATH writes add known hardcoded install directories (not user-controlled input), so the github-env audit is a false positive. Add inline zizmor: ignore[github-env] comments on all three platform run: blocks.

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Pull request overview

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action.yml

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action.yml

- Validate MAJOR_VERSION is digits-only before writing to GITHUB_PATH (Linux, macOS, Windows) - Add per_page=100 to /releases API calls when resolving latest prerelease (Linux, macOS, Windows)

Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) · 2026-02-17T11:26:09Z

Addressed all 6 unresolved review comments in commit ad4035f:

GITHUB_PATH env-file injection (3 comments)

Linux (L134): Added [[ "$MAJOR_VERSION" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] validation before writing to GITHUB_PATH
macOS (L229): Same digits-only validation added
Windows (L400): Added $majorVersion -match '^\d+$' validation before writing to GITHUB_PATH

Prerelease API pagination (3 comments)

Linux: Added ?per_page=100 to /releases API call
macOS (L164): Added ?per_page=100 to /releases API call
Windows (L257): Added ?per_page=100 to Invoke-RestMethod URI

Used per_page=100 instead of full pagination logic — PowerShell/PowerShell always has the latest prerelease within the most recent 100 releases, and this avoids unnecessary complexity.

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Pull request overview

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.github/workflows/Action-Test.yml

action.yml

.github/workflows/Action-Test.yml

The PowerShell release naming convention changed over time (e.g. powershell-preview_ vs powershell_ prefix for .deb packages). Instead of hardcoding the package filename pattern, query the GitHub Releases API for the actual asset URLs. This handles all historical and future naming conventions correctly.

…fic package name filters - Use specific jq filters (powershell_ for stable, powershell-preview_ for prerelease) instead of broad ^powershell.* regex that could match powershell-lts - Remove existing conflicting PowerShell packages (powershell, powershell-lts, powershell-preview) before dpkg/rpm install to avoid /usr/bin/pwsh conflicts - Add post-install verification to fail early if the installed version does not match the requested version - Apply same fixes for RPM-based distributions

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

action.yml:272

Same YAML issue here: run: followed by an indented | ... line is not valid for a multiline script. This needs to be run: | (optionally with the zizmor comment) or the action definition won’t parse.

        esac

        URL="https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v${REQUESTED_VERSION}/${PKG_NAME}"
        echo "Downloading from: $URL"

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action.yml

.github/workflows/Action-Test.yml

- Prerelease .deb naming changed between releases: Older (7.4.x): powershell-preview_7.4.0-preview.5-1.deb_amd64.deb Newer (7.6.x): powershell_7.6.0-preview.6-1.deb_amd64.deb Now tries powershell-preview_ first, falls back to powershell_ - Same fallback logic applied for .rpm assets - Fix verification failure for preview installs: preview builds install to /opt/microsoft/powershell/<major>-preview/ which is not on PATH after removing the old stable package. Now adds install dir to PATH before running verification. - Simplified GITHUB_PATH update using the IS_PRERELEASE flag already computed

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) mentioned this pull request Feb 17, 2026

🚀 [Feature]: Support installing prerelease PowerShell versions #15

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) mentioned this pull request Feb 17, 2026

Allow installing Preview versions of PowerShell #13

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) added 2 commits February 17, 2026 11:35

fix: suppress zizmor github-env false positives

e129998

The GITHUB_PATH writes add known hardcoded install directories (not user-controlled input), so the github-env audit is a false positive. Add inline zizmor: ignore[github-env] comments on all three platform run: blocks.

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) added 2 commits February 17, 2026 11:59

docs: add reason to zizmor ignore comments

7ebb00c

fix: add error handling for stable release resolution

07d6c2a

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Fix YAML multiline run formatting

d948b87

Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) added the Minor label Feb 17, 2026

Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) self-assigned this Feb 17, 2026

Harden GITHUB_PATH writes and prerelease API pagination

ad4035f

- Validate MAJOR_VERSION is digits-only before writing to GITHUB_PATH (Linux, macOS, Windows) - Add per_page=100 to /releases API calls when resolving latest prerelease (Linux, macOS, Windows)

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Use older prerelease (7.4.0-preview.5) in test matrix

0e49008

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) merged commit fae8569 into main Feb 17, 2026
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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) deleted the feature/prerelease-support branch February 17, 2026 11:58

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) commented Feb 17, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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New Prerelease input

Installing the latest prerelease

Installing a specific prerelease version

Linux package conflict handling

Windows prerelease handling

PATH management

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) commented Feb 17, 2026

GITHUB_PATH env-file injection (3 comments)

Prerelease API pagination (3 comments)

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Marius Storhaug (MariusStorhaug) commented Feb 17, 2026 •

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New `Prerelease` input