cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[kralius]

I'm trying to find a way to make the cygdrive prefix directory
(default: /cygdrive) appear hidden within cygwin (for example, to ls
or find).

This was actually the old behavior in cygwin, but at some point it
changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive, but even if
I delete this or change the cygdrive prefix to something non-default
(like /mnt), it will still show up (with ls, find, etc.).

For a while, i suspected this had something to do with the cygdrive
flags parameter (in the registry under ...\cygwin\mounts v2 ), but i'm
having no success playing with that now, and the cygwin faq and
mailing list archives are all very quiet about the subject.  The only
mention of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at
least 3 years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with
the registry!"  (*sigh*)


Does anyone have an idea how to get the old behavior back of hiding
the cydrive prefix directory?

And, whether or not it is related, does anyone know how the cygdrive
flags parameter is defined, what options can be set with it, etc. ?


a big thanks ahead of time,

- kral

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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Christopher Faylor]

On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 08:22:20PM -0500, kralius wrote:
>I'm trying to find a way to make the cygdrive prefix directory
>(default: /cygdrive) appear hidden within cygwin (for example, to ls or
>find).
>
>This was actually the old behavior in cygwin, but at some point it
>changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
>real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive, but even if
>I delete this or change the cygdrive prefix to something non-default
>(like /mnt), it will still show up (with ls, find, etc.).
>
>For a while, i suspected this had something to do with the cygdrive
>flags parameter (in the registry under ...\cygwin\mounts v2 ), but i'm
>having no success playing with that now, and the cygwin faq and mailing
>list archives are all very quiet about the subject.  The only mention
>of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at least 3
>years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with the
>registry!" (*sigh*)

Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?

>Does anyone have an idea how to get the old behavior back of hiding the
>cydrive prefix directory?
>
>And, whether or not it is related, does anyone know how the cygdrive
>flags parameter is defined, what options can be set with it, etc.  ?

The cygdrive prefix is controlled with the mount program.  Anything
that it is possible to do with it is mentioned there.  It is not
possible to hide it currently.

As you have discovered, the cygdrive parameter isn't there for you
to play with via regedit.  It is really intended to be manipulated
with the mount command.

cgf

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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[kralius]

Thanks for the reply.


> >The only mention
> >of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at least 3
> >years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with the
> >registry!" (*sigh*)
>
> Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?

The hint was written before the always-visible cygdrive ..feature..
came into play, so i figured it was worth asking again.  Aside from
that, though, notions like "hands off" and "not possible" strike me as
a little bit out-of-place for cygwin, i have to admit.  I imagine many
of its users (like myself) are interested in how it works, and in
playing around with it (even at the risk of breaking things).  I'd
certainly welcome getting pointed in the right direction to something
like the bit definitions for cygdrive flags in the source...

But, assuming cygdrive flags has nothing to do with the visibility
issue, (it looks like it happened to /proc and others at the same
time,) does anyone know/remember where the change was made to make
these special directories visible?


Thanks!

- kral



On 6/13/06, Christopher Faylor <cgf-no-personal-reply-please@cygwin.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 08:22:20PM -0500, kralius wrote:
> >I'm trying to find a way to make the cygdrive prefix directory
> >(default: /cygdrive) appear hidden within cygwin (for example, to ls or
> >find).
> >
> >This was actually the old behavior in cygwin, but at some point it
> >changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
> >real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive, but even if
> >I delete this or change the cygdrive prefix to something non-default
> >(like /mnt), it will still show up (with ls, find, etc.).
> >
> >For a while, i suspected this had something to do with the cygdrive
> >flags parameter (in the registry under ...\cygwin\mounts v2 ), but i'm
> >having no success playing with that now, and the cygwin faq and mailing
> >list archives are all very quiet about the subject.  The only mention
> >of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at least 3
> >years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with the
> >registry!" (*sigh*)
>
> Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?
>
> >Does anyone have an idea how to get the old behavior back of hiding the
> >cydrive prefix directory?
> >
> >And, whether or not it is related, does anyone know how the cygdrive
> >flags parameter is defined, what options can be set with it, etc.  ?
>
> The cygdrive prefix is controlled with the mount program.  Anything
> that it is possible to do with it is mentioned there.  It is not
> possible to hide it currently.
>
> As you have discovered, the cygdrive parameter isn't there for you
> to play with via regedit.  It is really intended to be manipulated
> with the mount command.
>
> cgf
>

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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Brian Dessent]

kralius wrote:

> changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
> real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive,

I don't know where you got this idea but it's absolutely not true. 
There should never be a physical directory backing the cygdrive prefix,
and no package (and certainly not setup.exe) should ever create it. 
Some users may create it to assist in tab-completion, but that is
something they would have done by hand.

> but even if
> I delete this or change the cygdrive prefix to something non-default
> (like /mnt), it will still show up (with ls, find, etc.).

This change was made in 1.5.19:
<http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2006-01/msg00016.html>.  It
was a change to the code in the DLL, and it has nothing to do with flags
in the mount table.

> For a while, i suspected this had something to do with the cygdrive
> flags parameter (in the registry under ...\cygwin\mounts v2 ), but i'm
> having no success playing with that now, and the cygwin faq and
> mailing list archives are all very quiet about the subject.  The only
> mention of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at
> least 3 years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with
> the registry!"  (*sigh*)

Here is where your logic becomes flawed.  There is nothing in the flags
or the registry that affects this.  Looking for such a thing will not
turn up anything.  The reason that everyone always says to stop poking
around in the registry is because there is *nothing* that you can do to
the mount table in the registry that cannot be done more cleanly and
safely with mount/umount.  That is the entire reason why those commands
exist.  All of the values of 'flags' map directly onto the various
options for "mount".

> Does anyone have an idea how to get the old behavior back of hiding
> the cydrive prefix directory?

If you're using find then I suggest looking at its manual, and using
-xdev.

> And, whether or not it is related, does anyone know how the cygdrive
> flags parameter is defined, what options can be set with it, etc. ?

man mount

Brian

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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[kralius]

On 6/13/06, Brian Dessent <brian@dessent.net> wrote:

> > changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
> > real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive,
>
> I don't know where you got this idea but it's absolutely not true.
> There should never be a physical directory backing the cygdrive prefix,
> and no package (and certainly not setup.exe) should ever create it.
> Some users may create it to assist in tab-completion, but that is
> something they would have done by hand.

I agree that it shouldn't create this directory... But i have tried
this a couple more times to verify.  If i only do a base install, it
does not create a physical cygdrive directory, but if i install
everything, it does.  (for reference, this is from a full download to
disk on june 8, 2006 from the sourceware.mirrors.tds.net mirror).


> This change was made in 1.5.19:
> <http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2006-01/msg00016.html>.  It
> was a change to the code in the DLL, and it has nothing to do with flags
> in the mount table.

Great!  This is what i was looking for.  Do you think anyone at cygwin
would consider making this feature optional in a later release?



- Kral

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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Igor Peshansky]

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006, kralius wrote:

> On 6/13/06, Brian Dessent <brian@XXXXXXX.XXX> wrote:

<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PCYMTNQREAIYR>.  Thanks.

> > > changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
> > > real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive,
> >
> > I don't know where you got this idea but it's absolutely not true.
> > There should never be a physical directory backing the cygdrive prefix,
> > and no package (and certainly not setup.exe) should ever create it.
> > Some users may create it to assist in tab-completion, but that is
> > something they would have done by hand.
>
> I agree that it shouldn't create this directory... But i have tried
> this a couple more times to verify.  If i only do a base install, it
> does not create a physical cygdrive directory, but if i install
> everything, it does.  (for reference, this is from a full download to
> disk on june 8, 2006 from the sourceware.mirrors.tds.net mirror).

If anything does this, it will probably be a postinstall script that
contains the string "cygdrive".  Grep through all .sh.done files in
/etc/postinstall, and you'll likely find the culprit.

> > This change was made in 1.5.19:
> > <http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2006-01/msg00016.html>.  It
> > was a change to the code in the DLL, and it has nothing to do with
> > flags in the mount table.
>
> Great!  This is what i was looking for.  Do you think anyone at cygwin
> would consider making this feature optional in a later release?

They will probably consider it and reject it.  The spirit of open-source
software is that you scratch what itches you, and others benefit.  This is
not something that itches any of the Cygwin developers.  Hence,
<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PTC>.

If you do plan to submit a patch, I suggest looking at the
fhandler_disk_file::readdir() function, and changing it to optionally
remove the virtual /cygdrive directory according to a new cygdrive flag
(and add a corresponding mount option).  That way, this behavior can be
controlled according to people's tastes.
	Igor
-- 
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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Brian Dessent]

"Stepp, Charles" wrote:

>  Symlink?
> 
> ln -s /cygdrive/c /c

Oh please no.  If you want that just set the cygdrive prefix to /
("mount -c /").

Brian

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Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Carl Christopher Edquist]

On 6/15/06, Buchbinder, Barry (NIH/NIAID) [E] wrote:
> Does the following do what you want?
>         mount -u -b --change-cygdrive-prefix "/"

> Stepp, Charles wrote:
> >  Symlink?
> >
> > ln -s /cygdrive/c /c

No... Thanks but no.  Barry and Charles, i think you're answering a
different question.  This thread wasn't about changing the path for
the cygdrive prefix, but, rather, making it invisible to cygwin
programs.



Igor, about /cygdrive being created upon install:

> If anything does this, it will probably be a postinstall script that
> contains the string "cygdrive".  Grep through all .sh.done files in
> /etc/postinstall, and you'll likely find the culprit.

No luck with anything in /etc/postinstall.  Hmm...  not sure if anyone
will care enough to investigate this.

> > Do you think anyone at cygwin
> > would consider making this feature optional in a later release?
>
> They will probably consider it and reject it.  The spirit of open-source
> software is that you scratch what itches you, and others benefit.  This is
> not something that itches any of the Cygwin developers.  Hence,
> <http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PTC>.
>
> If you do plan to submit a patch, I suggest looking at the
> fhandler_disk_file::readdir() function, and changing it to optionally
> remove the virtual /cygdrive directory according to a new cygdrive flag
> (and add a corresponding mount option).  That way, this behavior can be
> controlled according to people's tastes.

Thanks for the advice!


- Kral

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RE: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Buchbinder, Barry (NIH/NIAID) [E]]

Does the following do what you want?
	mount -u -b --change-cygdrive-prefix "/"

You may want to change the -u and -b options to fit your circumstances.

(I'm surprised that this wasn't mentioned previously, so I may have
misunderstood and this may not be the solution to the problem.)

- Barry

Stepp, Charles wrote:
>  Symlink?
> 
> ln -s /cygdrive/c /c
> 
> Charles Stepp
> Unix SA
> CYGWIN ROCKS!!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kralius [mailto:gatetman@gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 11:26 PM
> To: cygwin@cygwin.com
> Subject: Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the
> old 
> behavior)
> 
> Thanks for the reply.
> 
>>> The only mention
>>> of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at least 3
>>> years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with the
>>> registry!" (*sigh*)
>> 
>> Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?
> 
> The hint was written before the always-visible cygdrive ..feature..
> came into play, so i figured it was worth asking again.  Aside from
> that, though, notions like "hands off" and "not possible" strike me
> as a little bit out-of-place for cygwin, i have to admit.  I imagine
> many of its users (like myself) are interested in how it works, and
> in playing around with it (even at the risk of breaking things).  I'd
> certainly welcome getting pointed in the right direction to something
> like the bit definitions for cygdrive flags in the source...      
> 
> But, assuming cygdrive flags has nothing to do with the visibility
> issue, (it looks like it happened to /proc and others at the same 
> time,) does anyone know/remember where the change was made to make
> these special directories visible? 
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> - kral
> 
> On 6/13/06, Christopher Faylor
> <cgf-no-personal-reply-please@cygwin.com> 
> wrote:
>> On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 08:22:20PM -0500, kralius wrote:
>>> I'm trying to find a way to make the cygdrive prefix directory
>>> (default: /cygdrive) appear hidden within cygwin (for example, to
>>> ls or find). 
>>> 
>>> This was actually the old behavior in cygwin, but at some point it
>>> changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
>>> real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive, but even
>>> if I delete this or change the cygdrive prefix to something
>>> non-default (like /mnt), it will still show up (with ls, find,
>>> etc.). 
>>> 
>>> For a while, i suspected this had something to do with the cygdrive
>>> flags parameter (in the registry under ...\cygwin\mounts v2 ), but
>>> i'm having no success playing with that now, and the cygwin faq and
>>> mailing list archives are all very quiet about the subject.  The
>>> only mention of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find
>>> was at least 3 years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't
>>> mess with the registry!" (*sigh*)
>> 
>> Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?
>> 
>>> Does anyone have an idea how to get the old behavior back of hiding
>>> the cydrive prefix directory? 
>>> 
>>> And, whether or not it is related, does anyone know how the cygdrive
>>> flags parameter is defined, what options can be set with it, etc.  ?
>> 
>> The cygdrive prefix is controlled with the mount program.  Anything
>> that it is possible to do with it is mentioned there.  It is not
>> possible to hide it currently.
>> 
>> As you have discovered, the cygdrive parameter isn't there for you to
>> play with via regedit.  It is really intended to be manipulated with
>> the mount command. 
>> 
>> cgf

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RE: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old behavior)

[Stepp, Charles]

 Symlink?

ln -s /cygdrive/c /c


Charles Stepp
Unix SA
CYGWIN ROCKS!!


-----Original Message-----
From: kralius [mailto:gatetman@gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 11:26 PM
To: cygwin@cygwin.com
Subject: Re: cygdrive flags / hiding cygdrive prefix directory (the old
behavior)

Thanks for the reply.


> >The only mention
> >of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at least 3
> >years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with the
> >registry!" (*sigh*)
>
> Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?

The hint was written before the always-visible cygdrive ..feature..
came into play, so i figured it was worth asking again.  Aside from
that, though, notions like "hands off" and "not possible" strike me as
a little bit out-of-place for cygwin, i have to admit.  I imagine many
of its users (like myself) are interested in how it works, and in
playing around with it (even at the risk of breaking things).  I'd
certainly welcome getting pointed in the right direction to something
like the bit definitions for cygdrive flags in the source...

But, assuming cygdrive flags has nothing to do with the visibility
issue, (it looks like it happened to /proc and others at the same
time,) does anyone know/remember where the change was made to make
these special directories visible?


Thanks!

- kral



On 6/13/06, Christopher Faylor <cgf-no-personal-reply-please@cygwin.com>
wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 08:22:20PM -0500, kralius wrote:
> >I'm trying to find a way to make the cygdrive prefix directory
> >(default: /cygdrive) appear hidden within cygwin (for example, to ls
or
> >find).
> >
> >This was actually the old behavior in cygwin, but at some point it
> >changed to become visible.  The cygwin installer now also creates a
> >real directory on the windows file system called cygdrive, but even
if
> >I delete this or change the cygdrive prefix to something non-default
> >(like /mnt), it will still show up (with ls, find, etc.).
> >
> >For a while, i suspected this had something to do with the cygdrive
> >flags parameter (in the registry under ...\cygwin\mounts v2 ), but
i'm
> >having no success playing with that now, and the cygwin faq and
mailing
> >list archives are all very quiet about the subject.  The only mention
> >of cygdrive flags in the registry that i could find was at least 3
> >years old and got a reply to the effect of "don't mess with the
> >registry!" (*sigh*)
>
> Which apparently didn't serve as a clue?
>
> >Does anyone have an idea how to get the old behavior back of hiding
the
> >cydrive prefix directory?
> >
> >And, whether or not it is related, does anyone know how the cygdrive
> >flags parameter is defined, what options can be set with it, etc.  ?
>
> The cygdrive prefix is controlled with the mount program.  Anything
> that it is possible to do with it is mentioned there.  It is not
> possible to hide it currently.
>
> As you have discovered, the cygdrive parameter isn't there for you
> to play with via regedit.  It is really intended to be manipulated
> with the mount command.
>
> cgf
>

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