RE: CYGWIN1.DLL

[Bernard Dautrevaux <Dautrevaux@microprocess.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc) [ mailto:lhall@rfk.com ]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 4:54 PM
> To: Bernard Dautrevaux; 'cygwin@cygwin.com'
> Subject: RE: CYGWIN1.DLL
> 
> 
> At 10:10 AM 7/18/2001, Bernard Dautrevaux wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Christopher Faylor [ mailto:cgf@redhat.com ]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 7:02 AM
> > > To: cygwin@cygwin.com
> > > Subject: Re: CYGWIN1.DLL
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Wed, Jul 18, 2001 at 08:41:26AM +0400, Andrej Borsenkow wrote:
> > > >yOn Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Christopher Faylor wrote:
> > > >
> 
> <snip>
> 
> 
> > > 
> > > >Probably, intelligent setup that checks for existence of 
> cygwin dll
> > > >and download/update it only if needed makes more sense.
> > > 
> > > Actually the current version of setup.exe has some 
> > > preliminary code for
> > > doing just this.
> > > 
> >
> >The problem with relying on setup to fix that (e.g. 
> suppressing any already
> >present cygwin1.dll on the system when installing cygwin) is 
> only part of
> >the problem.
> >
> >If I install a cygwin1.dll with my program, where should I 
> install it?
> >obviously in some directory that is in the *standard* path 
> for windows
> >programs, so probably in \WINNT\system32 (as /cygwin/bin is 
> usually NOT in
> >the path for standard windows program).
> 
> 
> No, it can go in the same directory as the program you're installing,

Sure, but

> although that doesn't solve the potential duplication problem.

not only it doesn't solve it but worsened it if I install several programs
in several places :-)

> 
> 
> >So if I install my program AFTER cygwin, I got two 
> cygwin1.dll and if I
> >install cygwin after my program I got only one, but my 
> program probably no
> >longer run...
> 
> 
> For the former case, this is true if the installation process 
> for your 
> program is flawed enough to ignore the existing cygwin1.dll 
> installed by 
> setup.exe.  

The problem is that cygwin can be installed *anywhere* on the system, even
on T:\quite\obscure\place :-), so finding it is not simple, then arranging
for the program to find it will require careful analysis of where
cygwin1.dll is (and which one to use if I finally find two) and where does
the PATH points then automatically modify the PATH... not so simple to say
anyone not doing this is seriously "flawed" :-)

> The latter case is still a potential issue.

Sure, and probably an important one... I don't like so much the situation
where installing a package just broke another one in some obscure way by
deleting one of its files ;-|

> 
> 
> >I think that's part of the dreadfull DLL-HELL syndrom :-)
> 
> 
> Yes, quite.
> 
> 
> >Part of the problem will be avoided if setup installed cygwin1.dll in
> >/WINNT/system32, but this had probably been over-discussed 
> already :-)
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, it has.  Putting the Cygwin path to cygwin1.dll in the 
> Windows path
> is a better solution if you need/want to use a Cygwin program in the 
> Windows environment.
> 

The problem is that is not done by setup (for obvious reasons!) so the user
has to do it manually if needed while we would all like a solution that
avoid any manual tinkering of the user environment.

> 
> >The only satisfying solution I've found personally is 
> delivering a reduced
> >(ought to be minimal but is not) cygwin install with my 
> program (on the same
> >CDROM).
> 
> 
> This works too.

Note that distributing cygwin also requires either to setup the PATH
correctly or install your programs either with setup (the cleaner way) or at
least in th esame place as cygwin binaries (which your program is anyway),
but this is I think the only real option to obtain some automatic/universal
way to setup (no pun intended) an end-user environment.

Regards,

	Bernard

--------------------------------------------
Bernard Dautrevaux
Microprocess Ingenierie
97 bis, rue de Colombes
92400 COURBEVOIE
FRANCE
Tel:	+33 (0) 1 47 68 80 80
Fax:	+33 (0) 1 47 88 97 85
e-mail:	dautrevaux@microprocess.com
		b.dautrevaux@usa.net
-------------------------------------------- 

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