X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Distributing Cygwin DLLs with my app
References: <op DOT s5fgqea4010v0s AT samsung> <Pine DOT GSO DOT 4 DOT 63 DOT 0602231008171 DOT 13565 AT access1 DOT cims DOT nyu DOT edu>
Message-ID: <op.s5fmfafe010v0s@samsung>
From: "Dave Bryan" <dave DOT bryan AT gmail DOT com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=iso-8859-15
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:24:36 -0000
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.63.0602231008171.13565@access1.cims.nyu.edu>
User-Agent: Opera M2/8.52 (Win32, build 7721)
Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:cygwin-unsubscribe-archive-cygwin=delorie DOT com AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:cygwin-subscribe AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Archive: <http://sourceware.org/ml/cygwin/>
List-Post: <mailto:cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Help: <mailto:cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com>, <http://sourceware.org/ml/#faqs>
Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com
Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com

Igor

Thanks very much for your reply. I appreciate your time and the points you  
raised.

Regards
Dave


> On Thu, 23 Feb 2006, Dave Bryan wrote:
>
>> I have an application for Windows written in VC++ which spawns the GNU
>> tools GCC, LD, etc. As the GNU programs use the Cygwin DLLs I need those
>> also. Is is possible to distribute just the needed Cygwin DLLs with my
>> app + GNU tools rather than the complete Cygwin installation ? There
>> would be no cost to customers for Cygwin & GCC, just my VC++ app
>
> IANAL (<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#YANALATEYHSMBSI>), but as far as I
> understand, the GPL does allow such distribution, as long as you are also
> distributing sources for the GPL'd tools.  For further licensing
> questions, please use the cygwin-licensing list.
>
> However, it's good that you asked here, because another point of concern
> with such distributions is to make sure you don't become a
> <http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#3PP> by not playing nicely with the existing
> Cygwin installations.  As long as your distribution/installer detects an
> existing installation and uses its DLLs and tools instead of the ones you
> provide (or asks for an upgrade if the tools are too old), you should be
> ok.
>
> It would also be nice if you explicitly stated in the documentation that
> you use Cygwin under the covers as part of your toolchain, so that
> installing Cygwin later will not produce unpleasant surprises.  The best
> way of doing this is to install into a standard location rather than the
> location of your program (e.g., test for an existing installation, and if
> it's not there, install the minimal set of packages in c:\cygwin,
> preferably using Cygwin's installer or something with equal
> functionality).  That way, if the users later decide to install Cygwin,
> your minimal installation will be detected and upgraded.
>
> You can even present this as a choice for the users (like some products  
> do
> with things like Acrobat Reader or DirectX) -- if Cygwin is not detected,
> offer to install it, and spawn Cygwin setup for doing the minimal install
> from your distribution CD.  Fortunately, Cygwin is easy to detect.
>
> HTH,
> 	Igor



--
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/