X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Message-ID: <4e41f5c20704191012s6d562644oe288255b947a075f@mail.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:12:38 -0600 From: "Morgan Gangwere" <0 DOT fractalus AT gmail DOT com> To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Subject: Re: Install problem on XP SP2 In-Reply-To: <4626B121.8070206@aaronwl.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <46259E88 DOT 9050200 AT aaronwl DOT com> <4626B121 DOT 8070206 AT aaronwl DOT com> X-IsSubscribed: yes Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: 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 On 4/18/07, Aaron W. LaFramboise wrote: > Aaron W. LaFramboise wrote: > > > I've been unable to successfully install Cygwin on an XP SP2 machine > > after several tries. > > I have been able to install successfully, after repeated attempts. > However, I have not really resolved the problem. > > Apparently, and I've had problems with this in the past, not all > packages are downloaded during the 'download all packages' stage. This > can happen for various reasons, none of them very obvious. Sometimes > you can fix this by doing a second download pass, where it will pick up > the ones it missed. Sometimes this doesn't work, mysteriously. > Hypothetical reasons: broken mirror, local system problems, random > setup.exe bug, interference with existing installation, high humidity. > > Bug 1) Packages are silently not downloaded, when the user assumes that > they are. it LOOKS like they are silently not downloaded. you have to hit package dependancies in the package, or the mirror is broken. I have always done as full of an install as i can (everything from Base, Admin, KDE, Gnome, net, X, etc.). I have only ONCE not had a package fail, and that was because it wasnt on the server. > > *** If there's a problem with a mirror or the local system, or something > else that causes the download to not work, there needs to be a very > visible warning. > > Bug 2) There is no md5sum for the entire repository, meaning there is no > way for the user to personally verify that a mirror has the correct > stuff, or that his download was correct. there is. just read the mirror data where you put the cygwin temp stuff. last I checked, there was an MD5 hash for each entry. > *** The md5.sum in sourceware.org should include the entire release > folder, rather than just setup.*, so people can verify file integrity, > as well as confirming that they have all of the files they need to have. you volunteering? > Bug 3) If the user has requested a full install, but a package is > missing, this error is ignored silently. no it isnt. you get a big fat warning at runtime. and (pmr) you can CHECK the package list before you download > *** This is the most serious problem, and likely the cause of many of > the mysterious install failures that are never analyzed, or are blamed > on virus checkers etc. When a package is requested, but the matching > package file is missing, a very serious error message needs to appear, > and setup.exe should abort. > > It's possible I've fundamentally misunderstood the operation of > setup.exe in some way or another; in fact, as a user of it since the > beginning, I believe this is probably likely. If so, I apologize, but > nonetheless, this utility needs to be fixed so that these problems won't > happen; or alternately be replaced by a more mature, better maintained > alternative. > > -- > 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/ > > my only complaints for NOW are: * the package selection screen is SLOoW! I've waited for it to get x/cywin for the nth time because "Ohh! theres some package in Base i need!" - we need to write some installer in like C++/QT and write a wrapper with NSIS or sumting * Spaces are not liked at ALL. if cygwin.dll could convert spaces at runtime to "_" or "." or something, I would simply install xp and run Cygwin -- Morgan gangwere "Space does not reflect society, it expresses it." -- Castells, M., Space of Flows, Space of Places: Materials for a Theory of Urbanism in the Information Age, in The Cybercities Reader, S. Graham, Editor. 2004, Routledge: London. p. 82-93. -- 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/