Mail Archives: cygwin/2004/09/08/12:31:54
On Wed, 8 Sep 2004, Dave Korn wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cygwin-owner On Behalf Of Christopher Faylor
> > Sent: 07 September 2004 22:39
> >
> > The main web page for cygwin mentions that it is supposed to be an
> > emulation of Linux.
Which is extremely misleading IMHO. Linux is an operating system;
Cygwin is not. Cygwin is a POSIX/UNIX API layer for Windows. And, IIRC,
the POSIX and Single UNIX specifications trump Linux behavior when defining
Cygwin semantics.
> So it does! I always remember it being described as a Unix or POSIX
> emulation layer... I see that it changed sometime around June last year.
> Now I come to think of it, I had noticed that before; I think I always
> assumed it was just a 'dumbed-down' description someone had decided to put
> there in order to save the list having to repeatedly explain the
> posix/unix/gnu-linux distinction.
No, now we continually have to explain why you can't install said
x86 Linux binary/package and run it under our Linux emulator. Heck, you
can't even *compile* said Linux firewall/router/proxy server etc. under
our Linux emulator. Doesn't sound like much of an emulation to me.
Since when do you needed to recompile something to use it on an
emulator? Recompiling a program to use a different API is understandable.
> Agreed, but it did bring out an interesting point about the change in how
> cygwin is seen and described. I couldn't find any discussion in the
> archives about it, but it wasn't obvious to me what search terms might
> work. Was there some kind of policy change?
I would love to understand this decision too.
--
Brian Ford
Senior Realtime Software Engineer
VITAL - Visual Simulation Systems
FlightSafety International
the best safety device in any aircraft is a well-trained pilot...
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