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Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 07:11:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Earnie Boyd <earnie_boyd AT yahoo DOT com>
Reply-To: earnie_boyd AT yahoo DOT com
Subject: Re: Mo Dejong's install problems
To: Mo DeJong <mdejong AT cygnus DOT com>
Cc: cygwin developers <cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com>
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--- Mo DeJong <mdejong AT cygnus DOT com> wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, John Fortin wrote:
> 
> > Mo DeJong wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > So the obvious question is, where is the "right" place to set env vars
> > > like PATH. Is it /etc/profile? I do not think a .bat file that invokes
> > > bash is the right place to do that. For one thing, it only works with
> > > bash. There is also the fact that it does not work on Win95 or Win98.
> 
> The cygwin.bat file fails to set the PATH variable because the dos
> shell runs out of env memory space. This is a windows limitation,
> it might have been fixed in Win 98 but the script does not work on
> my Win 95 box. I do not know of any way to work around it. The
> following is displayed when I try to run cygwin.bat.
> 
> Out of environment space
> Out of environment space
> Bad command or file name
> 

This is at least covered in the FAQ.  It is fixable by the user.


> The first two errors are caused by set commands, the last one is because
> the .bat file tries to run bash but it can not be found on the PATH.
> 
> I realize that there are ways to work around the problem, like adding
> the entries to the PATH in the autoexec.bat file, but Cygwin needs to
> install and work "out of the box". Changing the PATH in the autoexec.bat
> file or the system settings on NT should be avoided if at all possible.
> 

I agree.  The installer shouldn't modify the system configuration files.  It
makes uninstall not as clean.  However, I do think that a contrived value for
HOME, if it doesn't exist already, should be made in the Cygwin initialization
process based upon the values of the standard windows system Environment
variables.

> > What doesn't work?  I use this method all the time on win98 and WinNT.
> > If I always need things set, I can put them in autoexec.bat (on 98).  If
> 
> Do we care about other shells? It seems like any approach that only works
> for bash or when run as a child of bash run from cygwin.bat is a little
> questionable.
> 

I'm not sure what you mean by "Do we care about other shells?".  As far as an
initial install, the answer is no we shouldn't be concerned with the startup of
other shells.  If someone wants other shells operating then s/he'll have to
take care of the startup process of those shells.

As for the children of bash, they inheiret the environment of the parent so
what's the problem?



=====
---
   Earnie Boyd: <mailto:earnie_boyd AT yahoo DOT com>
            __Cygwin: POSIX on Windows__
Cygwin Newbies: <http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/gw32/index.html>
           __Minimalist GNU for Windows__
  Mingw32 List: <http://www.egroups.com/group/mingw32/>
    Mingw Home: <http://www.mingw.org/>

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