Subject: Re: Patches for gnupg 1.0.7 / cygwin 1.3.10
From: Nicholas Wourms <[email-masked]>
To: Volker Quetschke <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2002 07:06:41 -0700 (PDT)

>  > There are two main reason why Cygwin is not supported and why the
>  > existing support may be dropped in the future:
>  >
>  > 1. There are conflicts between passed file descriptors.  Cygwin and
>  >    Windows use different semantics for that and GnuPG has already a
>  >    mapping between the external file descriptors and those used with
>  >    the CRT.  Now knowing what version of GnuPG is running on a
Windows
>  >    box is a bad thing for other applications.  Adding extra code to
>  >    check for this is too complicated and thus error prone.
>  >
>  > 2. Having a native Windows binary is a clear advantage for
maintenance
>  >    and support.
>  >
>  > What we will support is cross compiling using a gcc running under
>  > Cygwin to a native windows application.

Werner,

I am not into personal attacks, please view this as constructive critism,
but I find your line of reasoning to be highly fallacious.  The whole
point of the cygwin project is to "free" Windows users from the
restrictions and non-posix compliance of their OS.  It allows them to have
a choice in how they run their software and how it behaves.  We aren't
just a few people using cygwin on the side, rather, we are a force to be
reckoned with.  You can't just ignore us and say "There's a native windows
binary, that'll have to do".  It can be extremely complicated for cygwin
apps to interact with Windows natives, due to path conversion issues
amongst other things, and in most cases makes it impossible to do.  We
have found this to nearly be the case with GnuPGP, as there was much
difficulty getting the windows native to work with the cygwin mutt, IIRC
it still wouldn't work properly half the time.  I know it may complicate
the code somewhat, but the whole idea of PGP is to bring PKI to the
masses, regardless of platform.  With the demise of NAI's PGP Line, GnuPGP
is staged to become the future of PKI.  Furthermore, we have an individual
who has stepped forward to assist in maintaining the cygwin version and
working in cooperation with you to make sure necessary fixes get added to
the codebase.  I've seen much more complex projects, with existing windows
natives, step forward and provide cygwin native support.  I beg you to
reconsidier your rationale and think of the many cygwin users who might
want/need this functionality under Cygwin.  It's not that I don't find
your reasoning compelling, it's just that it sounds like the reasoning of
a commercial entity, such as NAI, supporting only the platforms which are
easiest to maintain and most widely used.  Thank you for you hard work in
providing such an excellent package, and it is my hope that you will
continue long into the future, regardless of your decision :).  Thanks for
your time and consideration on this matter.

Cheers,
Nicholas

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Bug reporting:         http://cygwin.com/bugs.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/