Install Cygwin on mounted drive for multiple concurrent users on multiple machines?

Install Cygwin on mounted drive for multiple concurrent users on multiple machines?

[Kenneth Wolcott]

Hi;

  I didn't see this in the Cygwin FAQ (perhaps I didn't look carefully
enough or perhaps it is too obvious a question).

  Instead of installing Cygwin on each Windows machine, is it
advisable to install it once on a public mounted drive?  Then not only
multiple users (concurrent or not) could use Cygwin on multiple
machines (concurrently or not) from one place.  Since many of the
machines I want to install Cygwin are short of disk space on the local
drive, but there seems to be sufficient space for a slightly larger
than minimal Cygwin installation on a public drive, is this advisable?
 I guess I'd see a performance hit if Cygwin were not installed on a
local drive.  Are there any other concerns?

Thanks,
Ken Wolcott

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Re: Install Cygwin on mounted drive for multiple concurrent users on multiple machines?

[David Macek]

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On 19. 11. 2015 23:52, Kenneth Wolcott wrote:
> Hi;
> 
>   I didn't see this in the Cygwin FAQ (perhaps I didn't look carefully
> enough or perhaps it is too obvious a question).
> 
>   Instead of installing Cygwin on each Windows machine, is it
> advisable to install it once on a public mounted drive?  Then not only
> multiple users (concurrent or not) could use Cygwin on multiple
> machines (concurrently or not) from one place.  Since many of the
> machines I want to install Cygwin are short of disk space on the local
> drive, but there seems to be sufficient space for a slightly larger
> than minimal Cygwin installation on a public drive, is this advisable?
>  I guess I'd see a performance hit if Cygwin were not installed on a
> local drive.  Are there any other concerns?

Potential concerns:
- location of home directories (same as Windows, or in $cygwinroot/home, or somewhere else)
- location of tmp (one shared in $cygwinroot/home, or per-user, or something else)
- location of var, for example for apps that put pidfiles there (one shared, per-user, else)

Essentially, as with any other shared app with possibly concurrent use, the program directory should ideally be read-only and any user-generated state gets written in per-user directories.

I'm also suspicious of whether advanced filesystem features will work on a network path, e.g. deleting/updating files/binaries when in use.

-- 
David Macek


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