MSysGit vs. Git for Windows

Here is the excerpt 'Official README'

"portable" version of Git for Windows (MSysGit) does not need tobe installed. It will run from any directory you place it in, evenonto a USB thumbdrive. It will not write permanent entries into the Windows registry. It does not need administrator privileges to "install". This version does not offer you the convenient right-click context menu entries "Git GUI Here" and "Git Bash Here", because these would require to add entries into the Windows registry.

(Now) they are the same (as of May 2015 but likely a bit earlier):

"msysgit" and "Git for Windows" have merged under the name "Git for Windows." msysgit.github.io now hosts "Git for Windows" and the main git download site git-scm.com lists msysgit.github.io as the maintained build for windows.

From the updated wiki:

... we decided to just phase out the name "msysGit" (as well as the GitHub org of the same name) and work on Git for Windows (with the corresponding GitHub org, and using the name "Git for Windows" for the installer aimed at "end-users" and "Git for Windows SDK" for the development environment targeting Git for Windows developers).

Git for Windows is newer than msysGit. If you want to use Git version 2.x you need to download from https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases. https://github.com/msysgit/git/releases is used for Git version 1.x.

Some technical details from https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/wiki/FAQ

Git for Windows used to be developed using the development environment called "msysGit", but roughly coinciding with Git 2.1, msysGit was superseded by a new development environment: the Git for Windows SDK.

Are they not the same thing?

On: http://msysgit.github.com/ The title is Git for Windows, the application is msysgit.

Even in the event they are not, I expect the only differences will be in the method of compilation (i.e. compiler used and any options set) and any extraneous packaging (such as having a bash emulating shell as in msysgit). The actual product (Git itself) should remain broadly similar.

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Edit: Thanks to Jarrod for pointing this out. I've left the above in for posterity. To quote the wiki:

msysGit is the development environment to compile Git for Windows. It is complete, in the sense that you just need to install msysGit, and then you can build Git. Without installing any 3rd-party software. msysGit is not Git for Windows; that is an installer which installs Git -- and only Git.

It is easy to see the difference: the installers for Git have the prefix Git-, the msysGit installers have the prefix msysGit-. Another telltale is that the msysGit installers come in two flavors: fullinstall and netinstall. Further, msysGit does not install to C:\Program Files by default. But msysGit comes with gcc, the GNU C Compiler.

So, the difference between the two projects:

• msysGit is the msys+mingw environment + everything needed to compile Git yourself, on Windows.
• Git for Windows is exactly that: Git, compiled for Windows.