Mail Archives: cygwin/2001/12/20/04:09:28
Jean-Michel POURE wrote:
>>Since Larry didn't touch this, I'll respond. Cygwin packages can be
>>
> unpacked/interpreted/understood by a NON cygwin program (setup.exe is a
> native windows app). ALL ports of RPM that I have seen require cygwin --
> which means they cannot easily be used to install cygwin itself on a virgin
> system. This is a serious drawback.
>
> This clearly is a demonstration that cygwin would benefit from a static
> compilation option. I know this is not an issue for you all, but ...
No, actually you are wrong -- this is not a demonstration of anything of
the sort. Let us suppose that you COULD link cygwin1.dll statically
(into rpm.exe?). What mount table would be available for that
cygwin-inside-rpm.exe to use?
In the scenario you raise, there is really no fundamental difference
between cygwin-inside-rpm.exe, and a cygwin.dll-based-rpm with a
cygwin1.dll sitting next to it. The fact is, you need a NON cygwin
program to do some initial system configuration before cygwin-based
progs can operate properly on a virgin system.
This has been discussed so damn many times on the mailing list it's
really starting to piss me off...
> Coming back to RPM, this would be so nice to issue this command:
> rpm --rebuild --target=cygwin package_name.rpms to compile any existing
> apckage for Cygwin.
>
> There are 100 times more Linux developpers than $Windows developpers. Why
> to reinvent the wheel with another installation format?
Oh, heaven forbid we actually invent a streaming tape format and then
repurpose it for disk archives. Oh, wait, that's tar -- and it's been
around since 1962 at least. Then there's that upstart gzip format --
it's only been around since the mid 70's, that young whippersnapper.
.tar.gz is not new.
>Do you really think
> you can create a universal format including DEB and RPM? Then you need to
> produce more work than the creators of these formats. This is such a
> difficult project...
No, we just want to teach setup.exe to unpack either pure DEBs or pure
RPMS. Prefereably using librpm.a or libdeb.a, which already exist.
However, those are cygwin/unixy ports, so we run into the problems
described earlier.
Don't like my superior tone? I don't blame you -- it's very irritating
to be "talked down to" as if one was a child playing with adult toys.
Want to know why I took such an abrasive tone?
Because your message was written that way, too. "This is clearly..."
and "Do you really think..." indeed.
--Chuck
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