Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com; run by ezmlm List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: cygwin-owner AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com Message-ID: Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 20:50:11 +0100 To: cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com From: Alexander Anderson Subject: Re: CygWin user tools (B20): help with installing extras References: In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Turnpike Integrated Version 4.02 U In article , Alexander Anderson writes > I think the chief problem is that the binaries are compiled with as- >sumptions about defaults hardwired into them. For instance, the config- >uration file this compilation of man uses is hardwired into the binary >and is by default an absolute pathname: "/usr/local/lib/man.conf". How- >ever, there's a "-C" override for it, which I used successfully. I use NT4 (ServicePack 3) for texty, webby design stuff. Pierre Humblet wrote to me and mentioned the idea of setting up one's Cygwin installation as root /, by use of the "mount" command. I have followed his suggestion and -- after a great deal of trial and error -- got my Cygwin Unix console to work reliably, AND in a state to be extended with extra commands from the Cygwin FTP site(s). In the process, I've learnt quite a bit about the concepts behind the unix "shell". I believe that non-guru users like myself aren't given nearly enough of a firm foundation when trying to install Cygwin off the Net. By "firm foundation", I mean where everything just works, without you hav- ing to know anything. There is an assumption, I feel, that if you're going to use Cygwin, you ought really to be a levitating guru -- able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. So nowhere is it stated (in the READMEs at the FTP mirrors) that in order to get precompiled binaries to work, you really ought to arrange the cygwin filestructure along Unix traditions, which includes having a /bin directory in the root / folder. Now, this is a matter of philoso- phy so I'll stop elaborating on it for the moment. ...Except to include, for the benefit of other novice users like my- self, my Cygwin.bat and .bashrc files that I modified to get my Cygwin installation to readily accept new commands and extensions. Here's my Cygwin.bat file. This file is used to set Cygwin going: CYGWIN.BAT ========== @ECHO OFF SET CYGWIN="title tty" SET CYGWIN32="title tty" SET MAKE_MODE=UNIX SET HOME=J:\Source.my\Programming\Unix SET MYCYG=C:\Program_Files\cygnus\cygwin-b20 SET PATH=%MYCYG%\bin;%MYCYG%\usr\local\bin;. bash And my .bashrc, which I believe, must reside in the folder referred to by the $HOME environment variable. The .bashrc is automatically in- voked by the bash shell program when it starts up: .bashrc ======= PS1='\w\$ ' PS2='> ' alias ls='ls --color=auto --classify -X' export MYCYG=C:/Program_Files/cygnus/cygwin-b20 # note that the following 3 commands are all _absolute_ paths... $MYCYG/bin/mount --reset $MYCYG/bin/umount / $MYCYG/bin/mount -f $MYCYG / export PATH=/bin:/usr/local/bin:. - - - X - - - OK, so I have my grumbles about there being very little in the way of reassurance or support for naive users of Cygwin unix, or "a firm foundation for beginners" as I call it. The reason, I suppose, is that there are an enormous number of college CS students who fit that catego- ry. Four years ago, back in 96, 97 I saw them in droves at my college. They're all running Windows 95 on college computers, and never get into Unix except in the last year -- and even then they don't end up knowing much more than cd and ls. I believe that making Cygwin a doddle to in- stall and play with at a college "Windows" terminal is a really impor- tant manoeuvre. And having man pages and info pages -- reams of it -- and the tools that make them can be hugely influential. Having said that, I just have to admit that the functionality of my "Cygwin Unix Shell" is INFINITELY better and more usable than the MS-DOS "Command Prompt". Since getting my Cygwin installation to work perfect- ly (about an hour ago now) I'm only just beginning to realize that I don't ever need to use the "Command Prompt" again, and let me tell you, that's a very good feeling! Thank you very much, everyone, for Cygwin and the user tools. Keep up the good work! With kind regards, Sandy P.S. Technical note: I got rid of the sub-directory "H-i586-cygwin32", and pulled all it's folders up a level to make the filestructure more in line with unix tradition. -- Alexander Anderson mailto : lists at almide period demon period co dot uk bud-nav: http://www.explosive-alma-services-bolts.co.uk/ pgp-sig: 1B5A DF3D A3D9 B932 39EB 3F1B 981F 4110 27E1 64A4 -- Want to unsubscribe from this list? Send a message to cygwin-unsubscribe AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com