From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Earnie Boyd To: "Smith, Martin" , Cygwin Cc: "'tolj@uni-duesseldorf.de'" Subject: RE: [ANN] Cygwin DEV survey Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 05:50:00 -0000 Message-id: <19990308134915.8672.rocketmail@send101.yahoomail.com> X-SW-Source: 1999-03/msg00224.html ---"Smith, Martin" wrote: 8< > * What about text/binary mounts - I get the feeling binary mounts are > preferred for most applications but, by default, the Cygnus tools install > with text mounts. Is it wise to change this to binary for a 'development' > install or not? 8< NO! The preferred method is text mounts. That is the reason for the default. If a program requires binary mounts then the program isn't properly ported. Switching to binary mounts causes other problems. In a program always _SPECIFY_ whether it is to be opened for text mode processing or binary mode processing, don't rely on the default. A file should be opened for text mode processing if the file can potentially be read or created by humans with a text mode editor, such as NOTEPAD. All other files should be opened for binary mode processing. 8< > * What about environment variables? At the moment these are in a batch > file but I usually add them to my NT environment and call Bash directly. Is > this appropriate? What about other settings like term etc? Is there any > "best" environment? 8< There are reasons why the environment variables are set in the batch file; that being, it works on both NT and 9x. I prefer this method as to something modifying my setup files/environment. IMNSHO, the "best" environment is the default one provided by the tool. Alternates can be explained and possibly somewhat automated after the installation. 8< > * Once installed, how best to manage updates to included packages? Is > there any advantage to using RPM or would it be best to stick with > tarballs/diff/patch initially? I don't think many people are using any form > of package management on cygwin yet but perhaps this would be useful? 8< This has been discussed many times before. I prefer the tarball method while others prefer the automated installation. If you want to satisfy all peoples then you have to supply both methods. 8< > * Would this include helper scripts like the modified "install" which > many packages need to cope with .exe extensions? I'm sure there have been a > few more handy scripts/wrappers on this list as well. 8< Just search the archives. 8< > * Would/could it set up /bin, /etc mounts as well as the default ones > provided by Cygwin? 8< Again, this is a preference thing. Some prefer to use symbolic links, some prefer to create a different directory structure altogether and some prefer just using mount points. Whatever you do as a default will only satisfy about 1/3 (a guess) of the preferences. 8< > * It would be handy if it could (eventually) offer to set inetutils up > for you as well (as an NT service if you are on NT). Don't know how feasible > this one is... 8< No comment. 8< > * Of course, using InstallShield, you could offer some of these as > options under "Custom" setup. 8< Yuk. Just give me a tarball please. 8< > Anyway, that's enough from me. I certainly support this suggestion and think > it would be a good way of allowing more people to get up & running with the > Cygwin tools without having to go through the regular FAQ session first :-) 8< I like the idea, too. However, it is a given that you'll never satisfy everyone and if you're too lazy to read do the FAQ session then you're going to be too lazy to read any other installation manual as well. I can just hear the questions now, "I just got this CD and I'm trying to ...". ;^) == - \\||// -------------------o0O0--Earnie--0O0o------------------- -- earnie_boyd@yahoo.com -- -- http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/gw32/index.html -- ----------------------ooo0O--O0ooo---------------------- PS: Newbie's, you should visit my page. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com -- Want to unsubscribe from this list? Send a message to cygwin-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Earnie Boyd To: "Smith, Martin" , Cygwin Cc: "'tolj@uni-duesseldorf.de'" Subject: RE: [ANN] Cygwin DEV survey Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 19:45:00 -0000 Message-ID: <19990308134915.8672.rocketmail@send101.yahoomail.com> X-SW-Source: 1999-03n/msg00224.html Message-ID: <19990331194500.m9Sy3dbA_QP-11M_m6Fk8JVsA3qb4-mVApWNGdKofAc@z> ---"Smith, Martin" wrote: 8< > * What about text/binary mounts - I get the feeling binary mounts are > preferred for most applications but, by default, the Cygnus tools install > with text mounts. Is it wise to change this to binary for a 'development' > install or not? 8< NO! The preferred method is text mounts. That is the reason for the default. If a program requires binary mounts then the program isn't properly ported. Switching to binary mounts causes other problems. In a program always _SPECIFY_ whether it is to be opened for text mode processing or binary mode processing, don't rely on the default. A file should be opened for text mode processing if the file can potentially be read or created by humans with a text mode editor, such as NOTEPAD. All other files should be opened for binary mode processing. 8< > * What about environment variables? At the moment these are in a batch > file but I usually add them to my NT environment and call Bash directly. Is > this appropriate? What about other settings like term etc? Is there any > "best" environment? 8< There are reasons why the environment variables are set in the batch file; that being, it works on both NT and 9x. I prefer this method as to something modifying my setup files/environment. IMNSHO, the "best" environment is the default one provided by the tool. Alternates can be explained and possibly somewhat automated after the installation. 8< > * Once installed, how best to manage updates to included packages? Is > there any advantage to using RPM or would it be best to stick with > tarballs/diff/patch initially? I don't think many people are using any form > of package management on cygwin yet but perhaps this would be useful? 8< This has been discussed many times before. I prefer the tarball method while others prefer the automated installation. If you want to satisfy all peoples then you have to supply both methods. 8< > * Would this include helper scripts like the modified "install" which > many packages need to cope with .exe extensions? I'm sure there have been a > few more handy scripts/wrappers on this list as well. 8< Just search the archives. 8< > * Would/could it set up /bin, /etc mounts as well as the default ones > provided by Cygwin? 8< Again, this is a preference thing. Some prefer to use symbolic links, some prefer to create a different directory structure altogether and some prefer just using mount points. Whatever you do as a default will only satisfy about 1/3 (a guess) of the preferences. 8< > * It would be handy if it could (eventually) offer to set inetutils up > for you as well (as an NT service if you are on NT). Don't know how feasible > this one is... 8< No comment. 8< > * Of course, using InstallShield, you could offer some of these as > options under "Custom" setup. 8< Yuk. Just give me a tarball please. 8< > Anyway, that's enough from me. I certainly support this suggestion and think > it would be a good way of allowing more people to get up & running with the > Cygwin tools without having to go through the regular FAQ session first :-) 8< I like the idea, too. However, it is a given that you'll never satisfy everyone and if you're too lazy to read do the FAQ session then you're going to be too lazy to read any other installation manual as well. I can just hear the questions now, "I just got this CD and I'm trying to ...". ;^) == - \\||// -------------------o0O0--Earnie--0O0o------------------- -- earnie_boyd@yahoo.com -- -- http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/gw32/index.html -- ----------------------ooo0O--O0ooo---------------------- PS: Newbie's, you should visit my page. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com -- Want to unsubscribe from this list? Send a message to cygwin-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com