Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com X-Authentication-Warning: slinky.cs.nyu.edu: pechtcha owned process doing -bs Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 12:31:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Igor Pechtchanski Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Subject: Re: Yes but I don't understand ... In-Reply-To: <20030806023748.GA19231@redhat.com> Message-ID: Importance: Normal MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 5 Aug 2003, Christopher Faylor wrote: > On Tue, Aug 05, 2003 at 08:07:46PM -0500, Wayne wrote: > >I thought it went like this: > > > >In the beginning, there was B20, and it was GOOD. After that, it went > >downhill... > > That raises the age old question of "If there was a B20, what about B19? > Why are there ChangeLog entries for earlier versions?" > > Many religious philsophers have pondered this question. A common answer > is that God created a ChangeLog with earlier entries when he created B20. > The theory is that this is part of His imponderable plan. However, many > find this explanation unsatisfying. > > Skeptics insist that the ChangeLog points to clear evidence of earlier > versions and there is, in fact, a scientific discipline called > arcygologists devoted to attempting to recreate ancient versions of > Cygwin from ChangeLog descriptions. Many scientists theorize that > Cygwin started as a very uncomplicated "Hello World" type Windows > program. This type of program probably existed for uncounted years > prior to the first occurence of a Cygwin DLL as we now know it. > > Interestingly, ancient ChangeLog records seem to show that even the name > of the DLL was different in these early years. Arcygologists have > pieced together a word resembling bnu-win23 as the name of this early > proto-Cygwin. > > The theory is that the DLL evolved as the result of constant pressure > from an early internet mailing list type of culture. In the early years > the mailing list consisted of an inhospitable majordomo environment. > This environment was good enough for the early Cygwin, whose sole purpose > appeared to be nothing more than to brighten the day of the primitive > internet by issuing cheery "Hello World!"s from the direction of Windows > machines. > > The constant stream of "Hello World"s had an effect, however. Over time > the majordomo environment changed, as the result of constant churning of > email. The pressure of this early environment with such theorized > elements as "It seems to me that bnu-win23 should be greeting me with > the time of day when it says hello", "If bnu-win23 can't grow to meet > the needs of the Amiga, it will certainly fail", and the frequent "I > can't Hello World my bnu-win23 on 3.11 Windows. I have Helo WOrlded my > 3.10 other machine! Can it be a problem with my CGA monitor?" forced a > slow, almost imperceptible change in the program over time. > > The pressure of increased need for complexity resulted in such things as > "cross compilers" to begin forming on the vast sea of UNIX machines which > populated the internet. As these "cross compilers" progressed they were > capable of building ever more complicated Windows programs. Then a > fateful day occured when the first *compiler* emerged shakily onto the > shores of a pre-XP windows system. This "compiler" contained the > backbone of what would eventually become a modern, upright Cygwin B20. > While "cross compilers" continue to exist to this day, the Cygwin > "compiler" has grown to occupy the vast, previously uncharted niche of > the Windows machines. > > The result of increased complexity also caused a change in the internet > environment in which early Cygwin's had grown. Slow, huge, dim-witted > majordomo was replaced by the smaller quick-witted and nimble > qmail/ezmlm. There were also changes in the cygwin license, owing to > internet feedback. In parallel to this, what started as a primitive > public domain program, evolved into a free-but-our-competitors-can't-use-it > license. This type of license provided inadaptable for the internet > environment and bnu-win23 nearly foundered and died as a result. The > internet environment began to shrink around the early bnu-win23. > > What happens next was not clear from the ChangeLog records. Apparently > some stray internet particle caused a fortuitous licensing change to the > now-well-known GPL. While this also caused much internet churning, it > did result in the modern Cygwin that we know today. > > The name change from the early bnu-win23 to Cygwin is also clouded by > gaps in ChangeLog records. The current theory is that some massive > internet outage caused the extinction of many early copies of bnu-win23, > allowing their less well-known and practically invisible Cygwin > counterparts to take center stage. > > In any event, the theory is that the churning of this majordomo/ezmlm > internet structure continued. Cygwin was subjected to a constant > barrage of random comments, causing it to metamorphosize into its > present structure. > > Interestingly, arcygologists are certain that if you were to repackage > and polish a B20, it would be nearly indistinguishable from the 1.x.x > Cygwins of today. The only change would be a certain subtle meanness > associated with the 1.x.x versions, which, while present in the B20 era, > was less conspicuous. > > Personally, I think I lean towards the "God created a ChangeLog with > evidence of previous Cygwins in it as part of His inscrutable plan." > > YMMV. > > cgf Now, if this doesn't belong on the Cygwin history page, I don't know what does. :-) Igor -- http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/ |\ _,,,---,,_ pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ igor AT watson DOT ibm DOT com |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D. '---''(_/--' `-'\_) fL a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-. Meow! "I have since come to realize that being between your mentor and his route to the bathroom is a major career booster." -- Patrick Naughton -- 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/