Subject: Re: Why is cygwin.dll?
From: [email-masked] ("Weiqi Gao")

15 Jan 1997 18:07:41 -0800
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M.Carter <[email-masked]> wrote:

>Can anyone explain the general purpose of cygwin.dll? Surely it would be
>better to incorporate any of the facilities it provides in with the
executable.
>This would lead to a much simpler system. Installation and execution of
binaries
>would be easier. 

>Or is it not that simple? I know, for instance, that DJGPP requires a
>DPMI. On the other hand, there are many executables that you can get over
>the Internet which install directly, and work straight away.

From a practical point of view, installing a dll into the system directory
is preferrable to link the code in to each executable.  Traditionally, it
is also customary for a compiler vendor to provide dlls to deploy with the
compiled applications.  Look at BWCC.DLL from Borland and MSVCRT40.DLL from
Microsoft.  These files are not part of the operating system, but provide
additional functionality so that programmers can have the job done more
efficiently.

The stated goal of Cygnus' GNU C for Windows NT/95 project is to make
porting of UNIX programs easier.  When you have thousands of UNIX programs
to port, it of course make sense to make the compiler be able to handle
most of the grunt work.  As the Cygnus GNU C for Windows NT/95 matures,
more and more programs will fall into the category of "compiles out of the
box with gnu-win32".  And hopefully, gnu-win32 compied programs will have
many advantages over other compilers' executables.

Programmers of all countries, GNUite!

--
Weiqi Gao
[email-masked]
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