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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
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On 4/18/07, Aaron W. LaFramboise <aaronpurpleleaf4 AT aaronwl DOT com> 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.
>
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>

<bitchmode>
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
</bitchmode>

--
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.

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