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From: Michael Ring <m DOT ring AT ndh DOT net>
To: cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com
Cc: m DOT ring AT ndh DOT net
Subject: rpm-based installation of cygwin-485-snapshot
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 13:52:07 +0100
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Hi!

I would like to propose an alternative (or additional) installation
method for upcomming cygwin-releases.

I have compiled a rpm-based distribution equivalent to the cygwin-485
snapshot as a 'case-study'. My ISP does not give me enough filespace
for all the files so I would like to update the dist somewhere to
sourceware.cygwin.com (I will only upload if someone from cygwin
confirms that i should/can do it)

By using rpm (Redhat Package Manager) we will gain a lot of
simplification in the build/install process for cygwin-executeables.

Here some examples:

installing/upgrading is super-easy, removal of old version is also
easy and includes dependency-checking (You cannot remove a package if
parts of it are needed by other applications) and you also get a brief
description what an application does before installing it.
Because every rpm is versioned it is easy to automatically update from
a ftp/http server (That was one of the installer goals I read in this
list)

build-scripts are included in the src-rpm files. You can rebuild
software from scratch and add patches in a consistent way

building & installation can be automated, at work I am managing a
distribution of Open-Source software for Solaris and OSF1 based on the
same source-code-rpm's completely automaticaly (complete rebuilds take
about 24 hours).

rpm hast post-install and pre-remove scripts. In a first step we could
use it to make the cygwin distribution a little bit more fhs 2.0
compliant by moving arround some files from /bin to /usr/bin without
the need for the cygwin developers to change their build-methods

I would like to discuss this approach with you guys, feedback is
welcome!


Michael Ring