Installing/upgrading only NOARCH packages.

Installing/upgrading only NOARCH packages.

[Carlo B.]

Hello,
after the 32-bit port of CYGWIN has been obsoleted, I was looking for
a way for installing or upgrading the NOARCH packages, like the
libraries for the mingw cross compilers for example.
Unfortunately, I have not found an existing way for doing it.
Is it possible to do it?

Otherwise, I'm searching for the sources of the setup program for
adding this feature in my local installation. I have seen that setup
utility has a "--arch" option, but it accepts only "x86_64" or "x86",
according to the "--help" printed on screen.
So, I'm planning to add a "noarch" in addition to "x86_64" and "x86"
to this option.
Where can I get the latest development sources of the setup utility?

Thank you very much for your replies.
Sincerely,

Carlo Bramini.

Re: Installing/upgrading only NOARCH packages.

[Jon Turney]

On 19/04/2023 12:30, Carlo B. via Cygwin wrote:
> Hello,
> after the 32-bit port of CYGWIN has been obsoleted, I was looking for
> a way for installing or upgrading the NOARCH packages, like the
> libraries for the mingw cross compilers for example.
> Unfortunately, I have not found an existing way for doing it.
> Is it possible to do it?

The x86 archive contains a set of noarch packages frozen at the same 
instant that the x86-arch packages were.

We don't just do that to be awkward:

The most obvious problem is with data-only noarch packages depended on 
by archful packages - at some unknown time (probably in the future, but 
who knows), some x86 package is going to stop working usefully with the 
data provided by some current noarch package, due to skew between the 
repositories.

The only practical approach, consuming a fixed, limited amount of 
effort, is to freeze the noarch packages available to x86 installs as well.

> Otherwise, I'm searching for the sources of the setup program for
> adding this feature in my local installation. I have seen that setup
> utility has a "--arch" option, but it accepts only "x86_64" or "x86",
> according to the "--help" printed on screen.
> So, I'm planning to add a "noarch" in addition to "x86_64" and "x86"
> to this option.

This probably isn't going to work the way you imagine it will: we don't 
provide noarch packages as a separate repository, so you'd have to 
extract that information from the x86_64 repository manifest, and merge 
it into the x86 repository manifest.

The easiest way to do this would probably be to create a local package 
repository as a clone of the x86 archive, then replace the noarch 
packages with those from the current x86_64 package repository, and 
regenerate the manifest with mksetupini.

However, I have no idea if you'd end up with something useful, or not. 
Maybe just importing the mingw* cross packages would be safest?  Anyhow, 
if it breaks, you get to keep all the pieces...

You might want to compare the ongoing effort that involves to just 
migrating to x86_64 :)

> Where can I get the latest development sources of the setup utility?

Following the link at [1] takes you to [2], which should contain the 
information you require.

[1] https://cygwin.com/install.html#source
[2] https://sourceware.org/cygwin-apps/setup.html

Re: Installing/upgrading only NOARCH packages.

[Brian Inglis]

On 2023-04-19 05:30, Carlo B. via Cygwin wrote:
> after the 32-bit port of CYGWIN has been obsoleted, I was looking for
> a way for installing or upgrading the NOARCH packages, like the
> libraries for the mingw cross compilers for example.
> Unfortunately, I have not found an existing way for doing it.
> Is it possible to do it?
> Otherwise, I'm searching for the sources of the setup program for
> adding this feature in my local installation. I have seen that setup
> utility has a "--arch" option, but it accepts only "x86_64" or "x86",
> according to the "--help" printed on screen.
> So, I'm planning to add a "noarch" in addition to "x86_64" and "x86"
> to this option.
> Where can I get the latest development sources of the setup utility?
> Thank you very much for your replies.

Although the Cygwin Mingw cross build toolchain utilities are not Cygwin arch 
dependent, they are Windows arch dependent, and as Cygwin no longer supports 32 
bit x86 Windows systems and packages because of vanishing usage and system 
support, we have been told that it is unlikely that maintainers will update 
mingw64-i686-... cross build toolchain utilities and libraries targeting 32 bit 
Windows.

As 32 bit Windows systems are no longer getting security updates, 
recommendations for similar legacy systems include running them in VMs with 
access to update executables and libraries blocked.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer     but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Re: Installing/upgrading only NOARCH packages.

[Jeremy Drake]

On Wed, 19 Apr 2023, Brian Inglis wrote:

> As 32 bit Windows systems are no longer getting security updates,
> recommendations for similar legacy systems include running them in VMs with
> access to update executables and libraries blocked.

There is a 32-bit variant of Windows 10; Windows 10 is scheduled to be
supported until October 2025.

Personally, I have a tablet, which shipped with Windows 8 and has a
64-bit-capable Atom processor, that nonetheless has a 32-bit UEFI firmware
without legacy boot support, and is thus incapable of booting a 64-bit
edition of Windows.  I have gotten the free upgrades to 8.1 (as soon as
I bought it) and then 10 when it came out.

I just wanted to correct the record that 32-bit Windows is already out of
support, or the general implication that they don't really matter anymore.
Maybe they don't, but maybe people don't realize that systems of 64-bit
processor vintage doesn't mean that a system can actually boot a 64-bit
Windows, even though it could otherwise run it (and can in a virtual
machine, though it's painful due to lack of RAM, and now lack of
VM software that still supports 32-bit Windows ;) ).