feat: support pwsh in powershell provisioner (#11950)

* set `pwsh` to true in config to run `pwsh.exe`, default is false.
* add docs

Co-authored-by: Ed Eustace <ed@smashcut.com>

provisioner/powershell/provisioner.go

@@ -89,6 +89,9 @@ type Config struct {
 	// A duration of how long to pause after the provisioner
 	PauseAfter time.Duration `mapstructure:"pause_after"`
 
+	// Run pwsh.exe instead of powershell.exe - latest version of powershell.
+	UsePwsh bool `mapstructure:"use_pwsh"`
+
 	ctx interpolate.Context
 }
 
@@ -112,7 +115,12 @@ func (p *Provisioner) defaultExecuteCommand() string {
 		return baseCmd
 	}
 
-	return fmt.Sprintf(`powershell -executionpolicy %s "%s"`, p.config.ExecutionPolicy, baseCmd)
+	if p.config.UsePwsh {
+		return fmt.Sprintf(`pwsh -executionpolicy %s -command "%s"`, p.config.ExecutionPolicy, baseCmd)
+	} else {
+		return fmt.Sprintf(`powershell -executionpolicy %s "%s"`, p.config.ExecutionPolicy, baseCmd)
+	}
+
 }
 
 func (p *Provisioner) ConfigSpec() hcldec.ObjectSpec { return p.config.FlatMapstructure().HCL2Spec() }

provisioner/powershell/provisioner.hcl2spec.go

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ type FlatConfig struct {
 	ExecutionPolicy        *string           `mapstructure:"execution_policy" cty:"execution_policy" hcl:"execution_policy"`
 	DebugMode              *int              `mapstructure:"debug_mode" cty:"debug_mode" hcl:"debug_mode"`
 	PauseAfter             *string           `mapstructure:"pause_after" cty:"pause_after" hcl:"pause_after"`
+	UsePwsh                *bool             `mapstructure:"use_pwsh" cty:"use_pwsh" hcl:"use_pwsh"`
 }
 
 // FlatMapstructure returns a new FlatConfig.
@@ -80,6 +81,7 @@ func (*FlatConfig) HCL2Spec() map[string]hcldec.Spec {
 		"execution_policy":           &hcldec.AttrSpec{Name: "execution_policy", Type: cty.String, Required: false},
 		"debug_mode":                 &hcldec.AttrSpec{Name: "debug_mode", Type: cty.Number, Required: false},
 		"pause_after":                &hcldec.AttrSpec{Name: "pause_after", Type: cty.String, Required: false},
+		"use_pwsh":                   &hcldec.AttrSpec{Name: "use_pwsh", Type: cty.Bool, Required: false},
 	}
 	return s
 }

provisioner/powershell/provisioner_test.go

@@ -273,6 +273,24 @@ func TestProvisionerPrepare_Scripts(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestProvisionerPrepare_Pwsh(t *testing.T) {
+
+	config := testConfig()
+
+	config["use_pwsh"] = true
+
+	p := new(Provisioner)
+	err := p.Prepare(config)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Should not be error: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	if !p.config.UsePwsh {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected 'pwsh' to be: true")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestProvisionerPrepare_EnvironmentVars(t *testing.T) {
 	config := testConfig()
 

website/content/docs/provisioners/powershell.mdx

@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ provisioner "powershell" {
   Packer injects some environmental variables by default into the
   environment, as well, which are covered in the section below.
 
+- `use_pwsh` (boolean) - Run `pwsh.exe` instead of `powershell.exe`. Defaults to false.
+
   This is a [template engine](/docs/templates/legacy_json_templates/engine). Therefore, you
   may use user variables and template functions in this field. If you are
   running on AWS, Azure, Google Compute, or OpenStack and would like to access