X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 10:21:25 -0400 From: Christopher Faylor To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Subject: Re: [Ping Python maintainer]: enhancement request Message-ID: <20070501142125.GD17841@trixie.casa.cgf.cx> Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com References: <20070501120623 DOT GA3824 AT tishler DOT net> <20070501133951 DOT GB17841 AT trixie DOT casa DOT cgf DOT cx> <463747BC DOT 3050002 AT cwilson DOT fastmail DOT fm> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <463747BC.3050002@cwilson.fastmail.fm> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11 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 Tue, May 01, 2007 at 09:59:24AM -0400, Charles Wilson wrote: >Christopher Faylor wrote: >>Before you do this, I have a question. Why is this important now when >>you've >>apparently been doing this for many years? This isn't the only package >>which >>makes symlinks to executables. And, since, AFAIK, setup.exe doesn't >>understand >>hard links it means that you really do have to make a copy. If you make a >>copy >>you stand the chance of having python.exe out of sync with the thing that >>it is >>supposed to be pointing to. >> >>If it was a general Cygwin policy to always make copies, I could see >>changing >>Python. But, again, since it isn't, I don't see why python should be >>unique. > >Because python is a command interpreter, and therefore likely to be >invoked directly from the windows environment -- unlike, say, egrep. >Similarly, sh.exe is a copy of bash.exe (and used to be a copy of >ash.exe) -- and not a symlink. I really don't think it's more likely for python to be invoked from the MS-DOS command line than it is for egrep. I think it would be quite the reverse in fact. I very rarely invoke python or perl as anything other than a #! script but I use grep every day from the command line and in scripts. And, of course, how often have we seen cases where sh.exe was "inexplicably" not the right version? >I think this copy (or hardlink) should be performed by a postinstall >script -- again, just like sh.exe is updated by bash packages. We'll have to agree to disagree then. I think a postinstall step for this is a band-aid. If a hard link is required (and I'm not convinced that it is) then it's time to bite the bullet and implement it in setup.exe. I think it's especially bad for python since the whole reason for the symlink is to allow a versioned python and you lose that information with a post-install step. OTOH, I still don't see any reason not to tell people "you have to run bash first if you want to use python". I believe that the vast majority of people who use Cygwin always invoke click on the cygwin icon and, so, would never even notice this. cgf -- 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/