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Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 00:06:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Igor Pechtchanski <pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu>
Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
cc: aisarosenbeum AT yahoo DOT com, cygwin-xfree AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: mkdir: cannot create directory `/cygdrive/h': No such file or  directory
In-Reply-To: <20051007235051.29684.qmail@web32914.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.63.0510072354370.501@slinky.cs.nyu.edu>
References: <20051007235051 DOT 29684 DOT qmail AT web32914 DOT mail DOT mud DOT yahoo DOT com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005, Todd Shoenfelt wrote:

> I've recently installed Cygwin to my XP machine for
> the first time.  When I launch the bash window, I get:
>
> <snip>
> mkdir: cannot create directory `/cygdrive/h': No such file or directory
> Copying skeleton files.
> These files are for the user to personalise their cygwin experience.
>
> These will never be overwritten.
>
> /usr/bin/install: cannot create directory `/cygdrive/h': No such file or directory
> /usr/bin/install: cannot create directory `/cygdrive/h': No such file or directory
> /usr/bin/install: cannot create directory `/cygdrive/h': No such file or directory
> bash: cd: /cygdrive/h: No such file or directory
>
> todd AT host /etc/skel
> </snip>
>
> It looks like Cygwin is trying to store some session data.  I do end up
> getting a functioning command line, but the 'h' directory isn't created.
> Cygwin is installed here: C:/cygwin/cygdrive.  I've done 'mkdir
> C:/cygwin/cygdrive/h', but the error persists.  How do I get these
> messages to go away?

First, this is a general Cygwin issue, and has nothing to do with
Cygwin/X.  I'm redirecting this reply to the main Cygwin list -- please
remove <cygwin-xfree at cygwin dot com> from further discussion.  Note
that the cygwin-xfree list adds an extra Reply-To, so you'll have to
manually remove it if you get this message via that list.

Whenever you first run the Cygwin shell as a new user, some skeleton files
are copied into your home directory automatically.  The home directory (or
$HOME in Unix-speak) is determined according to the rules described at
<http://cygwin.com/faq/faq-nochunks.html#faq.setup.home>.

/cygdrive is a virtual directory, which is the parent directory for all
Windows drive letters.  IOW, even though "/" is "C:/cygwin", "/cygdrive/h"
is NOT "C:/cygwin/cygdrive/h", it's "H:/".

For some reason, Cygwin thinks your $HOME is /cygdrive/h (or "H:\").  If
you do have the HOME environment variable set in Windows, that could
explain your problem.  If you don't have the "H:" drive, simply unset the
HOME variable in the Windows environment -- it'll be set appropriately by
Cygwin.  If you do have the "H:" drive occasionally (e.g., it's a network
drive), and some other program needs this setting of the HOME environment
variable, you can edit /cygwin.bat to unset HOME before starting the
Cygwin shell.

HTH,
	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!

If there's any real truth it's that the entire multidimensional infinity
of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. /DA

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