Mail Archives: cygwin-developers/2000/08/22/12:33:51
On Tuesday 22 Aug 00, David Starks-Browning writes:
> On Tuesday 22 Aug 00, DJ Delorie writes:
> > > Finally, latest/README hasn't changed from 15 Apr 2000, but the use
> > > of setup.exe has changed. If anyone *did* read this, like
> > > download.html urges, I think people are going to be confused.
> >
> > True. Volunteers to rewrite it?
>
> I'll have a go. It's either here, or in the FAQ telling everyone to
> ignore the README file. :-)
OK, here's a quick first draft to consider. I didn't write about the
chooser because I don't fully understand it myself. (Looks
interesting though! Lots of things to click on!)
I have to dash off quickly now, so expect some mistakes. But of
course all corrections & comments are welcome.
Cheers,
David
---------------------- cygwin/latest/README -----------------------
Apr 15 2000 DJ Delorie dj AT redhat DOT com
Aug 22 2000 (revised) David Starks-Browning starksb AT ebi DOT ac DOT uk
This is the README for the Cygwin download area.
* What is Cygwin?
See <http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/>.
* How do I install cygwin?
Download <http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/setup.exe> and run it. Or
run it directly from your browser. This will then download the list
of available packages, and offer to install them for you. There are a
number of options within setup to control installation details.
Alternatively, you could download the .tar.gz files from the packages
you wish to install into an empty temporary directory, put setup.exe
there, and run it. If you specify "Install from Current Directory"
when given that option, setup will not do any downloading, it will
just install from the .tar.gz files you've got in that directory.
(This is convenient if you're working offline, or have trouble getting
setup to work with your firewall or proxy server.) Be sure to check
for packages in the cygwin/contrib directory too. (This README file
is in cygwin/latest.) You don't need to download any -src.tar.gz
files in order to install with setup. Check
<http://sources/redhat.com/cygwin/mirrors.html> for a list of suitable
mirrors. Don't bother downloading directly from sources.redhat.com,
it will be too busy.
* What configuration options does setup allow?
You can:
- Download from Internet to Current Directory
- Install from Internet
- Install from Current Directory
When installing, you will have to specify:
- install root directory (default is C:\cygwin)
- Default Text File Type ("DOS" or "Unix")
- Install For ("All" or "Just Me")
Choose "DOS" if you want text files to have \r\n line endings (like
notepad.exe requires), or "Unix" for \n line endings.
Choose "All" if you want the Cygwin mount table to be available to
anyone who logs into the machine. (Recorded in the registry under
HKLM. May require Administrative privileges on Windows NT.) Choose
"Just Me" otherwise. (Recorded in the registry under HKCU.)
Network proxy settings are currently taken from Internet Explorer 5.
If you must get through a firewall/proxy server, and do not have IE5
installed and configured properly, you will probably have to download
packages manually as described above.
Note that setup.exe is a work in progress. Expect features to be
missing, or to change in the future. For example, there is currently
no uninstall option.
* Important note for existing Cygwin users:
Setup will unmount certain "standard" mount points if you have them (/
/usr /usr/{bin,lib} /var /lib /bin /etc) and remounts (/ /usr/bin
/usr/lib) according to your choices in setup. If you have an old
Cygwin installation, you should probably backup your current
installation before proceeding with setup.
* I'd rather do it myself.
If you're installing Cygwin for the first time, you should definitely
use setup.exe, because it does much more than just untar packages. It
also creates a working mount table as well as shortcuts and startup
scripts to help you get started.
If you know you don't need setup to do this for you, you can simply
download tar.gz files and un-tar them directly into '/' (Cygwin root
directory). IMPORTANT: You must use a Cygwin-aware tar program for
this. Do not use Windows programs like WinZip, because they will not
understand Cygwin mounts or symbolic links.
* But I don't have a tar program!
This isn't well supported, but...
Get bootstrap.zip instead. Choose a directory to be your "cygwin root"
directory, and unzip it there. It should create a "tmpbin" directory
with three files in it. One of them is tar (you need the others also,
of course). Just run it right from that directory (or move it to
some other random directory, but NOT to your system32 directory) like
"tmpbin\tar xvfz <whatever>.tar.gz".
* How do I build from source?
You need the <whatever>-src.tar.gz files. Some packages require
other packages (cygwin/*-src.tar.gz is a common requirement, as is
common/*-src.tar.gz).
If you are really serious about building from source you may want to
set up CVS on your system so that you can use the latest development
sources. Check out the cygwin web site for more details.
In any case, be prepared to do some tweaking. It's unlikely that
everything will build on your system without some modification. (Such
as dependence on other packages that are not distributed with Cygwin.)
* Where do I get help?
Get help at <http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/>.
If you've read the docs and the FAQ, and searched the mailing list
archives, then you should send mail to <cygwin AT sources DOT redhat DOT com>.
This is a general, public forum for all Cygwin users.
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