best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[LMH]

I am getting ready to re-install XP and I would like to avoid having to 
completely redo my cygwin install. Is there a way to export the current 
settings (installed packages, etc) and then re-import it after re-install?

I was thinking of just copying my cygwin_install directory that has 
setup.exe and the mirror folders and then reintroducing that to the new 
install, or just copying the entire cygwin root folder as well.

Is there a prescribed method for this?

LMH

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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Earnie Boyd]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 2:08 PM, LMH wrote:
> I am getting ready to re-install XP and I would like to avoid having to
> completely redo my cygwin install. Is there a way to export the current
> settings (installed packages, etc) and then re-import it after re-install?
>
> I was thinking of just copying my cygwin_install directory that has
> setup.exe and the mirror folders and then reintroducing that to the new
> install, or just copying the entire cygwin root folder as well.
>
> Is there a prescribed method for this?

Barring a backup utility to restore it later, I would suggest a
straight copy to an external disk or perhaps burn it on a DVD.  Be
sure to export a copy of the registry so you can later import it.

-- 
Earnie
-- https://sites.google.com/site/earnieboyd

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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 7/12/2012 4:10 PM, Earnie Boyd wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 2:08 PM, LMH wrote:
>> I am getting ready to re-install XP and I would like to avoid having to
>> completely redo my cygwin install. Is there a way to export the current
>> settings (installed packages, etc) and then re-import it after re-install?
>>
>> I was thinking of just copying my cygwin_install directory that has
>> setup.exe and the mirror folders and then reintroducing that to the new
>> install, or just copying the entire cygwin root folder as well.
>>
>> Is there a prescribed method for this?
>
> Barring a backup utility to restore it later, I would suggest a
> straight copy to an external disk or perhaps burn it on a DVD.  Be
> sure to export a copy of the registry so you can later import it.
>

<http://cygwin.com/faq-nochunks.html#faq.setup.registry>

So the only reason to care much about the registry is if you want cygcheck
to be able to report where your Cygwin installation is.  This can be nice
if you need to send your cygcheck information in when getting help from the
list but it would also presuppose that you put Cygwin right back in the
same location as in your current installation.

While I would also tend to just copy off my current Cygwin install and then
plop it back in when I finished the O/S reinstall, there will be things
like local user and group accounts in '/etc/passwd' and '/etc/group' that
will need updating.  A reinstall of Cygwin avoids some of these little
clean-up tasks that come from just copying over a previous installation.



-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?


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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Earnie Boyd]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 4:27 PM, Larry Hall (Cygwin)  wrote:
> While I would also tend to just copy off my current Cygwin install and then
> plop it back in when I finished the O/S reinstall, there will be things
> like local user and group accounts in '/etc/passwd' and '/etc/group' that
> will need updating.  A reinstall of Cygwin avoids some of these little
> clean-up tasks that come from just copying over a previous installation.

Would one be able to re-execute the post install scripts to manage it?

-- 
Earnie
-- https://sites.google.com/site/earnieboyd

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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 7/12/2012 4:31 PM, Earnie Boyd wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 4:27 PM, Larry Hall (Cygwin)  wrote:
>> While I would also tend to just copy off my current Cygwin install and then
>> plop it back in when I finished the O/S reinstall, there will be things
>> like local user and group accounts in '/etc/passwd' and '/etc/group' that
>> will need updating.  A reinstall of Cygwin avoids some of these little
>> clean-up tasks that come from just copying over a previous installation.
>
> Would one be able to re-execute the post install scripts to manage it?

Well, in the case of the '/etc/passwd' and '/etc/group' files, not entirely.
000-cygwin-post-install.sh will create these files but only if they don't
exist already.

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?


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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[K Stahl]

Not sure if the following will work, but couldn't you use something like:

Old machine: cygcheck -cd package_list.log

New machine:  setup --packages < package_list.log

You would have to copy your home directory and possibly massage the input data.

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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[LMH]

If you do the old standard,

mkpasswd -l > /etc/passwd
mkgroup -l > /etc/group

will that take care of it, or would I need to delete what is in those 
directories now first?

The location of the cygwin directory will be the same. Is there a list 
of the windows registry entries for cygwin? I will not want to re-import 
the entire regisrry, so it would be nice to be able to make up a little 
batch file that would just insert the entries related to cygwin.

LMH



Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote:
> On 7/12/2012 4:31 PM, Earnie Boyd wrote:
>> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 4:27 PM, Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote:
>>> While I would also tend to just copy off my current Cygwin install
>>> and then
>>> plop it back in when I finished the O/S reinstall, there will be things
>>> like local user and group accounts in '/etc/passwd' and '/etc/group'
>>> that
>>> will need updating. A reinstall of Cygwin avoids some of these little
>>> clean-up tasks that come from just copying over a previous installation.
>>
>> Would one be able to re-execute the post install scripts to manage it?
>
> Well, in the case of the '/etc/passwd' and '/etc/group' files, not
> entirely.
> 000-cygwin-post-install.sh will create these files but only if they don't
> exist already.
>

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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 7/12/2012 5:04 PM, LMH wrote:
> If you do the old standard,
>
> mkpasswd -l > /etc/passwd
> mkgroup -l > /etc/group
>
> will that take care of it, or would I need to delete what is in those
> directories now first?

For these files, your above recipe will work.

> The location of the cygwin directory will be the same. Is there a list of
> the windows registry entries for cygwin? I will not want to re-import the
> entire regisrry, so it would be nice to be able to make up a little batch
> file that would just insert the entries related to cygwin.

As the FAQ that I pointed to said, there's nothing in the registry Cygwin
needs to work.


-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?


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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Andrey Repin]

Greetings, LMH!

> I am getting ready to re-install XP and I would like to avoid having to 
> completely redo my cygwin install. Is there a way to export the current 
> settings (installed packages, etc) and then re-import it after re-install?

Just pack up the installation directory, and splash it somewhere afterward.
You'll have to regen the /etc/passwd and /etc/group, unless you're running in
domain environment.
On an unrelated note, install Cygwin on a separate partition next time. :)

> I was thinking of just copying my cygwin_install directory that has 
> setup.exe and the mirror folders

Totally unnecessary. If you've maintained your installation for quite some
time, updating regularly, then setup cache contains lots of obsolete packages.
Would be much, much faster to just burn it and download new setup.exe when you
need it.

> and then reintroducing that to the new install, or just copying the entire
> cygwin root folder as well. 


--
WBR,
Andrey Repin (anrdaemon@freemail.ru) 13.07.2012, <05:04>

Sorry for my terrible english...


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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[LMH]

So I will just tar up the cygwin directory and put it back after the new 
install. If I download a new copy of setup.exe and point it at the 
install directory, will it figure out what packages are already 
installed? I suppose I could test this sort of thing, but I figure that 
someone already knows the answer. Is there any reason to not re-use my 
current version of setup.exe, minus that setup cache? I think it is 
pretty recent.

In the other thread, you asked me to not "top post". I'm not familiar 
with that term, so I'm not sure exactly what I need to avoid. I believe 
that I replied to the last post in the thread to make my post. I do try 
very hard to comply with proper posting procedures, so I would 
appreciate some clarification.

LMH

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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[Mark Geisert]

> In the other thread, you asked me to not "top post". I'm not familiar 
> with that term, so I'm not sure exactly what I need to avoid.

<http://catb.org/jargon/html/T/top-post.html>

..mark



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RE: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[James Johnston]

> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 02:14
> Subject: Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration
> 
> So I will just tar up the cygwin directory and put it back after the new
install. If
> I download a new copy of setup.exe and point it at the install directory,
will it
> figure out what packages are already installed? 

Yes.  The list of packages is in /etc/setup/installed.db, as best I can
tell.  Other setup information is in there as well.

> Is there any
> reason to not re-use my current version of setup.exe, minus that setup
> cache? I think it is pretty recent.

It might still be out of date.  Who knows.  I always use the latest setup
version when upgrading my Cygwin packages; I don't even keep a local copy of
it.


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Re: best way to re-install and keep cygwin configuration

[ping]

On 07/12/2012 09:09 PM, Andrey Repin wrote:
> Greetings, LMH!
>
>
> Totally unnecessary. If you've maintained your installation for quite some
> time, updating regularly, then setup cache contains lots of obsolete packages.
> Would be much, much faster to just burn it and download new setup.exe when you
> need it.
>

this sound to me that I made a mistake.
I typically when got a new pc, or a new installation of OS, just 
download setup.exe
and install "ALL" a/v package, in order to ease the future usage.
but now it typically takes 1 or 2 days to finish, considering also 
install cygwin port packages...
I'll install based on a "install-on-need" base...next time.

b.t.w., comparing with a "real" linux, like ubuntu, the current cygwin 
package maintenance tool
seems still in the raw stage , comparing with apt-get machanism ... not 
to complain..

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