From: john AT exmachina DOT net (John Mullee) Subject: Re: Installation - A Recommended Structure - Comments? 9 Dec 1998 21:44:24 -0800 Message-ID: <366E7E78.6F1B8745.cygnus.gnu-win32@exmachina.net> References: <026c01be22c5$1c35eb70$cac8c8c8 AT mindspring> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: Cygnus32 Fred Marshall wrote: > 1) Cygwin32 is set up and intended to allow porting gnu tools into WIN32 I think the majority of users are porters of gnu or unix software > 2) Arguably, the population of WIN32 users who want to make use of the gnu post-beta, perhaps there will be different 'distributions', a la linux > 3) Reliably installing these tools is elusive at best. It can get to be IMO the install program should be GPL There should also be some kind of digest, as I tire of wading through dozens of frequently-asked-questions on the list weekly. Other lists do this, and update their FAQs regularly, thus cutting down on (ahem) 'noise' > 4) Installation instructions are terse at best and are (randomly?) > distributed over a bunch of readme files, FAQs, etc. Some of the important I dont believe that 2 days rummaging through mailing list archives is an acceptable substitution for decent howtos and manuals (or _MAN PAGES_!!!) > Here's a modest recommendation: > A) Establish a recommended/standardized WIN32 directory structure that will Where's that url for the directory structure standard? - In the list archive !! > B) Establish methods for setting up WIN32 settings that are important to The port of the Redhat Package Manager (RPM) is interesting in this respect > Against: > Setting directory structures is counter to freedom of expression and > suggests a rigid situation with no flexibility. Any directory structure standard - including the present default of NONE - can be changed by recompiling etc. IMO something - ideally, standard - is better than nothing > For: > Standardizing should not remove flexibility. However, it should prevent > errors like: the instructions or some buried code refer to a directory or Compiled-in dependancies on '/logopolis/monitor/noer' aren't very helpful. I _dearly_ wish that developers and porters would migrate to the standard tree and distribute tarballs using it. For Christmas? :) > C) Prerequisite installs are problematic. If there are prerequisite I am a windows programmer who tried cygwin as an alternative to migrating to linux, but I found the environment demands a devolper-level familiarity with un*x system concepts. I am now running Linux. I can read the manuals. I have a slower system (P5-133.48MB.1GB) and dont have the time or space to build all these packages. On linux, I have all the man pages and howtos, the LDP, programmers guides, prebuilt packages for the standard tree, etc. I guess that in a few months I might reach the requisite level of understanding of un*x concepts to be able to sucessfully manage a cygwin installation. John (windows refugee) - For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to "gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".