Re: Capturing a Cygwin instance from another PC

[Eliot Moss <moss@cs.umass.edu>]

On 11/22/2023 10:43 AM, Bill Stewart via Cygwin wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 22, 2023 at 7:53 AM Jose Isaias Cabrera wrote:
> 
> I have a new Win11 PC, and I wanted to capture the same Cygwin setup that I
>> have in another Win10 PC. I copied the C:\cygwin64 folder from the Win10 pc
>> to the Win11 pc, then I downloaded a fresh setup-x86_64.exe from
>> cygwin.com to the win11 PC. I ran it and chose "Install from Local
>> Directory" and only one shortcut for "Cygwin64 Terminal" was created on the
>> desktop. No Cygwin nor Cygwin-X folders were created on the Start menu. The
>> original cygwin from the Win10 PC had X installed also.
>>
> 
> I don't think "Install from Local Directory" means "reproduce same cygwin
> installation on a separate computer".

In fact, it means to install using the package files in some local directory,
i.e., "assume the packages are already downloaded".

It would be reasonable to copy over downloaded packages.

I believe there are commands / techniques that would then make it fairly
easy to install that specific set of packages "from scratch" (but from
the local copy of the packages).  Copying *installed* file hierarchies
is trickier because of permission / ownership concerns.

Best - EM