From: "David Gast" <dgast AT csulb DOT edu>
Subject: Update problems
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:39:03 -0800
Message-ID: <web-28750510@remus.csulb.edu>
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There are two problems with updating cygwin.

1. If you run setup.exe from bash, bash cannot be updated
     because the file is in use.  If the libraries have 
been updated
     and bash expects old libraries, for example, you 
can't do
     anything in cygwin.  In the update instructions, you 
should
     advise people not to use bash or have setup avoid the 
problem.
     (Other non-shell programs may also have problems, but 
bash
     is the primary problem.  To be precise I probably 
should say that
     if one where using a different shell and that shell 
got updated,
     the same type of problem would exist.)

     This problem may not exist with I.E. because it may 
allow you
     to execute rather than just save setup.exe.  (I don't 
use I.E.)

     I wish I could send you detailed instructions, but I 
have learned
     not to run setup.exe from bash and I don't want to 
create a
     disaster to send you a better bug report.

2. If you choose a different mirror, then the update does 
not go
     smoothly; that is, the update does not know anything 
about
     the previously installed packages, so all sorts of 
dependencies
     get broken.

     I suppose that this feature allows some flexibility 
(one could
     have different installs in different directories from 
different
     mirrors), but I suspect that most people just want 
one install.

     Therefore, I suggest that you get rid of the mirror 
in the path
     where the downloaded packages are stored.  If you 
feel there
     is a need to keep the mirror in the path, then 
perhaps you
     should make it an "advanced" option.

3.  As a wish list, it would be convenient to be able to 
type
      something like (I don't care what the command is 
called,
      for example):

         cyg-install $command

      where $command is some command like (cal, bash, 
wget, etc.)
      It would make it easier to find the package where a 
particular
      command is installed, however, the above problems 
(for example,
      dependencies getting messed up) would need to be 
avoided.

I really appreciate the work you have done.  The first two 
programs
I start when I am forced to use a Windows box are cygwin 
and
firefox.

I have never had a problem with the initial install, but 
an update
6 months later can be problematic.


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