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Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2023 21:36:55 -0500
To: Jose Isaias Cabrera <jicman@outlook.com>
Cc: cygwin List <cygwin@cygwin.com>
Subject: Re: Capturing a Cygwin instance from another PC
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From: Chris Wagner via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com>
Reply-To: Chris Wagner <wagnerc@plebeian.com>
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On 2023-11-22 9:53 am, Jose Isaias Cabrera via Cygwin wrote:
> I have a new Win11 PC, and I wanted to capture the same Cygwin setup 
> that I have in another Win10 PC. I copied the C:\cygwin64 folder from 
> the Win10 pc to the Win11 pc, then I downloaded a fresh 
> setup-x86_64.exe from cygwin.com to the win11 PC. I ran it and chose 
> "Install from Local Directory" and only one shortcut for "Cygwin64 
> Terminal" was created on the desktop. No Cygwin nor Cygwin-X folders 
> were created on the Start menu. The original cygwin from the Win10 PC 
> had X installed also.
> 
> Any idea how to get this done automatically? I know I can go and create 
> folders manually, etc., but it kind of a pain. Any help would be 
> greatly appreciated. Thanks.
> 
> josé

Unfortunately you can't "just copy it" because Cygwin sets up file 
permissions and creates symlinks in very particular ways.  Even using 
WinRAR in Admin mode with all the capturing things turned on won't give 
you an exact copy.

To create a snapshot of a Cygwin installation you have to do it within 
Cygwin itself and then unpack it in another Cygwin environment.  The 
best option is this:

1. On the source: tar -vczf /cygwin64.tgz /etc /sbin /usr /var
2. Install only base-cygwin on the new machine using setup.exe
3. Unpack on the new machine: cd /; tar -vxzf /cygwin64.tgz


If you just want to duplicate the package selection this trick is all 
you need.

1. Get the current list: cygcheck -cd |perl -ane '$\=","; print $F[0]'
2. Ignore the "Cygwin,Package" at the front.
3. Copy all that and put it as the command line argument to setup.exe -P

You can see setup options with setup.exe -h.


HTH, thanks.


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