X-Recipient: archive-cygwin@delorie.com X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Message-ID: <48AC64CF.5070202@cygwin.com> Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:39:11 -0400 From: "Larry Hall (Cygwin)" Reply-To: cygwin@cygwin.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070505 Remi/2.0.0.0-3.fc4.remi Lightning/0.8 Thunderbird/2.0.0.0 Mnenhy/0.7.5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: cygwin@cygwin.com Subject: Re: Cygwin 1.7 on a FLASH Drive References: <48AC5BBA.2010906@bmts.com> <48AC60AB.6000506@cygwin.com> <48AC62EE.9040604@bmts.com> In-Reply-To: <48AC62EE.9040604@bmts.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help@cygwin.com; run by ezmlm List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: cygwin-owner@cygwin.com Mail-Followup-To: cygwin@cygwin.com Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin@cygwin.com Ralph Hempel wrote: > Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote: >> Ralph Hempel wrote: >>> Yes, I've read the FAQ on making Cygwin portable :-) >>> >>> I'd like to have a complete Cygwin environment on a FLASH >>> drive, but of course using that drive to compile stuff in >>> my HOME directory will be awfully slow. >> >> Why is that? > > Creating, wand writing files is much slower on a FLASH > drive than on a hard disk. Not a big problem for a few > files here and there, but if I'm compiling gcc and binutils for > cross compiling to an ARM (for example) it might be MUCH > slower. How is it hooked up to your system? Generally speaking, you should get better performance from flash memory than disks unless something is getting in the way. >>> Is there a way to create a symlink of a directory on a local >>> hard drive to the cygwin /home/username/ directory? >> >> No, not across volumes. You could try 'junction', which does >> something "similar" in Windows land. > > Just similar enough to be dangerous from what I hear... Treating junctions as symlinks (for directories) is dangerous, yes. There's also no visible indication of a junction point, unlike symlinks. >>> Are there any features in 1.7 that will make a portable >>> cygwin easier to maintain? >> >> There will be no mount table in the registry. > > This is, of course, very good. > > Now that I think about it, one way that having a common Cygwin install > will help me is on my development laptop. I'm running XP as the host > OS and have a lot of virtual Win2K machines set up for testing in > clean sandboxes. > > By having one canonical "known good" Cygwin install that's visible > as a shared drive to the virtual machines, I think I can get > what I want without using a USB drive. > > Sorry for the noise, just musing aloud I guess... While it is possible to use a shared drive as an installation for Cygwin, that can be slower due to network latencies on the shared "drive". -- Larry Hall http://www.rfk.com RFK Partners, Inc. (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office 216 Dalton Rd. (508) 893-9889 - FAX Holliston, MA 01746 _____________________________________________________________________ A: Yes. > Q: Are you sure? >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email? -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/