Subject: Re: cygwin.dll
From: [email-masked] (Jeremy Blackman)

16 Jan 1997 21:24:29 -0800
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On Thu, 16 Jan 1997, M.Carter wrote:

> At the risk of annoying someone ...
> 
> I'd like to mention that I used Visual C++ to 
> write a simple 'hello world'
> program for Windows 95. It was 17k long. I found that 
> the machine transported
> to another machine running Windows 95 without the need for 
> distributing a dll, or any other paraphenalia. 

I will point out that, in the newer versions of Win95, Microsoft has 
included the Visual C/C++ DLLs in the main system installation...the 
equivalent of having cygwin.dll installed when you set up your OS.  In 
addition.  And also, if they didn't have a version of Win95 that had the 
DLLs installed when they set it up, many programs will install those DLL 
for you, as they use them as well.  Note that any Visual Basic program 
requires VBRUNxxx.DLL where xxx is the version (e.g. 100 for 1.0, 200 for 
2.0, etc.)...but many programs install this, so most machines already 
have these DLLs.  Cygnus stuff has not been as widely distributed, so 
most machines don't already have the cygwin.dll file installed.  Not 
saying this IS what happened, but making a point.  Yes, it's possible to 
link in a library to a file, but from what I've seen (and what others on 
the list have said), so much of the cygnus DLL is devoted to supporting 
the other portions, to provide UNIX functionality, that it would be hard 
to link in only a minimal amount statically.

> Can I please re-affirm the advantages of eliminating the dll :
>    - the distribution is easier to install. Remember - the user may
> not be interested in the cygnus project - he just wants an
> executable that works
>    - the binary is easier to execute

For the program I compiled under gnu-win32, the user simply downloads a 
ZIP file.  They unzip this, and run SETUP.EXE.  THis prompts them for a 
distribution directory, set up uninstall, and installs not only my 
program, but the cygwin DLL if they don't already have it.  This hardly 
seems a difficult install.

I know some people complain about the number of DLLs that clutter up a 
system, but 1 DLL (compared to the many that, say, Adobe Photoshop or 
Microsoft Office will install) hardly seems worth complaining about.  And 
what with uninstallshield and other such toolkits, it's easy to keep them 
clean and straightened up.

--Jeremy
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