Re: MSYS mode (continue)

[Corinna Vinschen <corinna-cygwin@cygwin.com>]

On Jul 29 15:00, LRN wrote:
> On 29.07.2013 13:29, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> > On Jul 27 20:17, NightStrike wrote:
> >> Perhaps it would be useful to actually identify which packages have
> >> extenuating needs.  Maybe it's just one or two.  Maybe it's all but
> >> one or two.  I don't think that currently, the problem space is
> >> properly enumerated, but is instead living in the abstract.
> > 
> > Very good point.  This would perhaps show us much better where we're
> > heading here.  From the current input I only see the following required
> > changes in relation to a stock Cygwin distro:
> > 
> > - make w/ DOS path handling
> Yes. Note that the code DOES exist in make, but is disabled when make is
> built for Cygwin. One might question whether it was a good idea to
> disable support for W32 paths in make that runs on W32 (with a
> compatibility layer, but still...) in the first place.

Cygwin paths can contain "x:" as part of a normal filename.

> > - gcc targeting Mingw rather than Cygwin.
> You already have that, it's called "mingw cross-compiler for cygwin".
> And that is not what msys users use.
> I think you've meant something different here, i'm not sure what.

That's exactly what I meant.  Of course we have a mingw cross compiler
in the Cygwin distro, but as far as the discussion on the mingw-w64 list
showed, MSYS users apparently prefer the "native" gcc compiler (the one
called "gcc") to produce mingw executables (aka "native Windows
exectables running without a compat layer") to avoid cross compiling
when creating native Windows executables.  If the native gcc in an MSYS
install targets MSYS, and if you had to use a cross compiler to create
native Windows executables (as in Cygwin), there would ne no reason for
MSYS at all since it would be equivalent to Cygwin.

> > - Cygwin compiler provided as cross tool $arch-pc-cygwin-gcc, etc.(*)
> Yes. That includes binutils too (obviously)
> 
> 
> Also:
> 
> base-files:
> add /mingw/bin to PATH when running in MINGW mode
> (adding /mingw/share/{man,info} to {MAN,INFO}PATH is also useful, but
> not really mandatory)
> (ok, these aren't binaries, so maybe they don't qualify)
> 
> bash:
> Fix various instances of '\r' handling.
> 
> coreutils:
> Bring back the '\r' support in md5sum. This is another change that might
> just go into Cygwin in general. I'm not sure whether '\r' is a valid
> character to use in filenames.

Yes.

> (optionally) embed install.exe.manifest into install.exe
> 
> There are also patches to rebase that i find useful, but they are up to
> debate.
> 
> Yeah, that list turned out to be really short. There may be other
> packages that need fixing ('\r' handling is the likely culprit), but i
> haven't bumped into them yet, so i wouldn't know.

Corinna

-- 
Corinna Vinschen                  Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Maintainer                 cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
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