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Mail Archives: cygwin/2001/01/01/21:31:25

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Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 21:30:50 -0500
From: Christopher Faylor <cgf AT redhat DOT com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: why not use root as root?
Message-ID: <20010101213050.A21327@redhat.com>
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In-Reply-To: <EA18B9FA0FE4194AA2B4CDB91F73C0EF7975@itdomain002.itdomain.net.au>; from robert.collins@itdomain.com.au on Tue, Jan 02, 2001 at 01:12:11PM +1100

On Tue, Jan 02, 2001 at 01:12:11PM +1100, Robert Collins wrote:
>> At last i thought, if it would not work with cygwin on root, then the 
>> setup.exe would not allow to install in root:-)
>
>It does work. But there _may_ be gotchas. There _are_ gotchas with other
>products.
>
>What benefits does encouraging this sort of install bring?

There are few benefits.  It's nice to type "c:\bin\ls" rather than
"c:\cygwin\bin\ls".  Things may work better with "dejagnu" (as you
mentioned).  Other thatn that there are no benefits.

As you know, we have already hashed this over many times.  That is why
there is a FAQ entry.

The section of the FAQ that is under fire shows the preference of the
people who are distributing cygwin and gives a rationale for doing
things a certain way.  It is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise
which magically adapts itself to everyone who reads it.

We certainly allow installing to the root.  I used to run things that
way myself.  We have found, through experience, that it is best to
install cygwin in its own directory <bold>just like all of the packages
that were mentioned in Gerrit's previous email</bold>.

Why do you suppose that packages like "perl" and "Visual C" install
their files in separate directories?  It is for precisely the same
reason as what is done for cygwin.  The cited examples actually
strengthen the position of putting cygwin in its own directory.

In this, as in everything, experience is the best teacher.  If you
really have to rely on people here to tell you specifically what you
need to do on your system then you probably should do what the people
are telling you.  If you are interested in experimenting, then
experiment.  We've already rehashed the FAQ a couple of times.  If you
(Gerrit) don't agree with the sentiments contained in the FAQ then feel
free to ignore it.

I guess I'll ask David to make the wording even more painfully clear to
see if there is any possibility of plugging the hole in this dam.
Somehow, I have a feeling that we will still be discussing this years
from now, though.

cgf

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