Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:50:13 -0400
From: Christopher Faylor <cgf-use-the-mailinglist-please AT cygwin DOT com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Adding packages (was: mkfs.jffs2 support in CYGWIN)
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On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 10:02:08PM +0100, Dave Korn wrote:
>Andy Koppe wrote:
>>> How to install is here:
>>> http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/setup-net.html
>> 
>>I don't think it's terribly obvious that you simply need to run
>>setup.exe again to add more packages after initial installation.  This
>>is not a common thing to do with other installers, and with some
>>installers this might even mess things up, so people might be wary of
>>doing this.
>
>Ah.  Well.  It's not a common thing to do with *Windows* installers,
>but on Linux - which is what Cygwin aims to emulate - it's absolutely
>the standard practice to use a single central package management
>program that updates your whole system for you.
>
>>So to help matters, perhaps setup.exe could be installed as part of
>>Cygwin, and a suitably named link to it added to the start menu?  Even
>>better if that link would take it directly to the package selection
>>screen.
>
>That's not a bad idea at all.  Would make Cygwin even more Linux-like!

I've actually been trying to make setup.exe more usable from the command
line so that it could be used as an update client like "yum" or "apt-get".
It isn't quite there yet since it still flashes annoying windows on the
screen but it is close.

One thing I've toyed with is making some sort of "cyg-update" wrapper to
setup.exe which hides the screens and ensures that setup can act as a
command-line utility.  Then it could be used as a command-line utility.

I fear that if we include setup.exe as-is we'll only hear an increased
cry from people who don't like the GUI nature of the program.  Although,
if you've been around long enough you might recall the hue and cry about
the fact that setup.exe *wasn't* GUI based.

cgf

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