DMARC-Filter: OpenDMARC Filter v1.4.2 sourceware.org 7777A3858421
MIME-Version: 1.0
References: <DB9P251MB00639D5E85344DBC6BB9E9A2DEBAA@DB9P251MB0063.EURP251.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM>
 <CANV9t=QVXeT+rBuSuZu4ogic36L4SRUqqAerCyAYzvKKqm+iUQ@mail.gmail.com>
 <147f983f-eab8-4605-11e6-14709c56d87b@cs.umass.edu>
 <DB9P251MB0063AA52CFACD26EA07C4DC5DEBAA@DB9P251MB0063.EURP251.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM>
 <8e38b937-1a61-fbf7-4b72-9a836d6d3520@cs.umass.edu>
In-Reply-To: <8e38b937-1a61-fbf7-4b72-9a836d6d3520@cs.umass.edu>
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2023 01:12:27 -0800
Message-ID: <CAKwdsS9h_BuWXCA+duDuSybdbHaJgsGgnk67R0_A7uVOEUwN1g@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Capturing a Cygwin instance from another PC
Cc: "cygwin@cygwin.com" <cygwin@cygwin.com>
From: Backwoods BC via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com>
Reply-To: Backwoods BC <completely.and.totally.trash@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Sender: "Cygwin" <cygwin-bounces+archive-cygwin=delorie.com@cygwin.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

On Thu, Nov 23, 2023 at 12:39 AM Eliot Moss via Cygwin
<cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
> On 11/22/2023 4:38 PM, Jose Isaias Cabrera wrote:
> > On Wednesday, November 22, 2023 11:15 AM, Eliot Moss expressed:
> >>
> >> On 11/22/2023 10:43 AM, Bill Stewart via Cygwin wrote:
> >> > On Wed, Nov 22, 2023 at 7:53 AM Jose Isaias Cabrera wrote:
> > [clip]
> >> >> desktop. No Cygwin nor Cygwin-X folders were created on the Start menu. The
> >> >> original cygwin from the Win10 PC had X installed also.
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > I don't think "Install from Local Directory" means "reproduce same cygwin
> >> > installation on a separate computer".
> >>
> >> In fact, it means to install using the package files in some local directory,
> >> i.e., "assume the packages are already downloaded".
> >>
> >> It would be reasonable to copy over downloaded packages.
> >>
> >> I believe there are commands / techniques that would then make it fairly
> >> easy to install that specific set of packages "from scratch" (but from
> >> the local copy of the packages).  Copying *installed* file hierarchies
> >> is trickier because of permission / ownership concerns.
> >
> > Thanks, Eliot. Hmmm... I would have thought that by now this process would have been thought of.
>
> Not saying it hasn't, but since I don't have a ready answer to your
> question I was leaving that to other, more knowledgeable, folks to
> jump in and ill the gap :-) ...

I'll also add my vote for "this should be easier." I've done it a half
a dozen times over the years and I found that the fastest method was
to take several screen shots of Cygwin setup showing what I have
installed, take those to the new machine, and manually go down the
list selecting the same things. It's stupidly low tech, but it's
actually quite fast (~ 5 minutes) and I know that it will always work
without annoying glitches.

-- 
Problem reports:      https://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                  https://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:        https://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:     https://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple