Cygwin portable bash

Cygwin portable bash

[Andy Holt]

Hey everyone,

I installed cygwin on my laptop (domain andy-laptop), and it works great 
from here. I installed in a special folder ("My Dropbox") which uses the 
free dropbox service online to synchronize the folder accross multiple 
machines (my other machine is andy-desktop). On the desktop machine 
(also username Andy), I can run cmd and CD to the cygwin directory, I 
can go into the /bin directory and run most of the programs just fine 
for some simple stuff, but it won't load bash correctly.

When I installed cygwin on the laptop, I chose to install only for the 
single user (not the whole machine) and tried to make it avoid any 
registry tampering.

So basically I think I need to figure out how to run bash as the andy 
from andy-laptop on andy-desktop... Or something? I can't figure this 
out and most of the stuff I've read online isn't helping and has to do 
with bash scripting instead of running bash as a user on a different 
domain or something. I'm just kind of confused where to go.

I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks a bunch,
-Andy

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Re: Cygwin portable bash

[J. David Boyd]

Andy Holt <andyj@comcast.net> writes:

> Hey everyone,
>
> I installed cygwin on my laptop (domain andy-laptop), and it works
> great from here. I installed in a special folder ("My Dropbox") which
> uses the free dropbox service online to synchronize the folder accross
> multiple machines (my other machine is andy-desktop). On the desktop
> machine (also username Andy), I can run cmd and CD to the cygwin
> directory, I can go into the /bin directory and run most of the
> programs just fine for some simple stuff, but it won't load bash
> correctly.
>
> When I installed cygwin on the laptop, I chose to install only for the
> single user (not the whole machine) and tried to make it avoid any
> registry tampering.
>
> So basically I think I need to figure out how to run bash as the andy
> from andy-laptop on andy-desktop... Or something? I can't figure this
> out and most of the stuff I've read online isn't helping and has to do
> with bash scripting instead of running bash as a user on a different
> domain or something. I'm just kind of confused where to go.
>
> I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks a bunch,
> -Andy

Have you checked the simple things first?  Did all the cygwin files get
copied over?  Check file sizes on the directories, and see if you really
have everything.

You might try installing cygwin onto your laptop and desktop first, then
synchronizing them, or maybe only synchronizing your home directory, and
manually keeping the rest updated.

My 2 cents...

I have cygwin running on, oh, about 6 machines, and all I really keep
synchronized is my home directory.  That way I can run emacs gnus
anywhere, or check emacs erc, or whatever, and be happy.

Dave


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Re: Cygwin portable bash

[Morten Kjærulff]

Hi,

If you have a cygwin application running on machine A and update the
installation on machine B, you might run into problems when dropbox
tries to copy the files to machine A. I did almost the same with
Windows Live Mesh. Now I am only synchronizing my home directory.

Cheers,
Morten

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:21 PM, J. David Boyd
<david.boyd@catalinamarketing.com> wrote:
> Andy Holt <andyj@comcast.net> writes:
>
>> Hey everyone,
>>
>> I installed cygwin on my laptop (domain andy-laptop), and it works
>> great from here. I installed in a special folder ("My Dropbox") which
>> uses the free dropbox service online to synchronize the folder accross
>> multiple machines (my other machine is andy-desktop). On the desktop
>> machine (also username Andy), I can run cmd and CD to the cygwin
>> directory, I can go into the /bin directory and run most of the
>> programs just fine for some simple stuff, but it won't load bash
>> correctly.
>>
>> When I installed cygwin on the laptop, I chose to install only for the
>> single user (not the whole machine) and tried to make it avoid any
>> registry tampering.
>>
>> So basically I think I need to figure out how to run bash as the andy
>> from andy-laptop on andy-desktop... Or something? I can't figure this
>> out and most of the stuff I've read online isn't helping and has to do
>> with bash scripting instead of running bash as a user on a different
>> domain or something. I'm just kind of confused where to go.
>>
>> I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks a bunch,
>> -Andy
>
> Have you checked the simple things first?  Did all the cygwin files get
> copied over?  Check file sizes on the directories, and see if you really
> have everything.
>
> You might try installing cygwin onto your laptop and desktop first, then
> synchronizing them, or maybe only synchronizing your home directory, and
> manually keeping the rest updated.
>
> My 2 cents...
>
> I have cygwin running on, oh, about 6 machines, and all I really keep
> synchronized is my home directory.  That way I can run emacs gnus
> anywhere, or check emacs erc, or whatever, and be happy.
>
> Dave
>
>
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>
>

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Re: Re: Cygwin portable bash

[Andy Holt]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3551 bytes --]

I'm in a similar situation with about 10 different machines, some of 
which come and go very quickly. I rarely use more than one computer at a 
time, as most of them are in remote installations and not accessible 
physically. In order to save time installing cygwin and other software, 
my goal was to use dropbox (and where dropbox won't work I use unison 
between a few servers to extend the reach) to keep all the files (home 
dir and binaries etc) synchronized.

The folder sizes and number of files are the same, laptop has 
924,298,616 bytes and 47,538 files in 2,821 folders. desktop machine has 
924,928,616 bytes and 47,538 files in 2,821 folders. Exact same.

I wonder if it has something to do with /etc/passwd? The passwd file 
mentions user Andy and has "Andy-Laptop" in the name. See the file 
attached. When I run cygwin on the other machine it starts bash, but 
seemingly I don't have any permissions or am not an actual user. So I 
can't run adduser, su, ls, any commands. Nothing works. Is there a way 
to specify who to 'login' as to bash?

Morten Kjærulff wrote:
> Hi,
>
> If you have a cygwin application running on machine A and update the
> installation on machine B, you might run into problems when dropbox
> tries to copy the files to machine A. I did almost the same with
> Windows Live Mesh. Now I am only synchronizing my home directory.
>
> Cheers,
> Morten
>
> On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:21 PM, J. David Boyd
> <david.boyd@catalinamarketing.com> wrote:
>   
>> Andy Holt <andyj@comcast.net> writes:
>>
>>     
>>> Hey everyone,
>>>
>>> I installed cygwin on my laptop (domain andy-laptop), and it works
>>> great from here. I installed in a special folder ("My Dropbox") which
>>> uses the free dropbox service online to synchronize the folder accross
>>> multiple machines (my other machine is andy-desktop). On the desktop
>>> machine (also username Andy), I can run cmd and CD to the cygwin
>>> directory, I can go into the /bin directory and run most of the
>>> programs just fine for some simple stuff, but it won't load bash
>>> correctly.
>>>
>>> When I installed cygwin on the laptop, I chose to install only for the
>>> single user (not the whole machine) and tried to make it avoid any
>>> registry tampering.
>>>
>>> So basically I think I need to figure out how to run bash as the andy
>>> from andy-laptop on andy-desktop... Or something? I can't figure this
>>> out and most of the stuff I've read online isn't helping and has to do
>>> with bash scripting instead of running bash as a user on a different
>>> domain or something. I'm just kind of confused where to go.
>>>
>>> I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks a bunch,
>>> -Andy
>>>       
>> Have you checked the simple things first?  Did all the cygwin files get
>> copied over?  Check file sizes on the directories, and see if you really
>> have everything.
>>
>> You might try installing cygwin onto your laptop and desktop first, then
>> synchronizing them, or maybe only synchronizing your home directory, and
>> manually keeping the rest updated.
>>
>> My 2 cents...
>>
>> I have cygwin running on, oh, about 6 machines, and all I really keep
>> synchronized is my home directory.  That way I can run emacs gnus
>> anywhere, or check emacs erc, or whatever, and be happy.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>> --
>> Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
>> FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
>> Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
>> Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
>>
>>
>>     

[-- Attachment #2: passwd --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 723 bytes --]

SYSTEM:*:18:544:,S-1-5-18::
LocalService:*:19:544:U-NT AUTHORITY\LocalService,S-1-5-19::
NetworkService:*:20:544:U-NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService,S-1-5-20::
Administrators:*:544:544:,S-1-5-32-544::
Administrator:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:500:513:U-Andy-Laptop\Administrator,S-1-5-21-2512254127-1346553493-2976963698-500:/home/Administrator:/bin/bash
Andy:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:1000:513:U-Andy-Laptop\Andy,S-1-5-21-2512254127-1346553493-2976963698-1000:/home/Andy:/bin/bash
Guest:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:501:513:U-Andy-Laptop\Guest,S-1-5-21-2512254127-1346553493-2976963698-501:/home/Guest:/bin/bash
Lauren:unused_by_nt/2000/xp:1001:513:Lauren,U-Andy-Laptop\Lauren,S-1-5-21-2512254127-1346553493-2976963698-1001:/home/Lauren:/bin/bash


[-- Attachment #3: Type: text/plain, Size: 218 bytes --]

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RE: Re: Cygwin portable bash

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

I'm not aware that this has been mentioned before in this thread, but I'd worry that there is no mount table.  (I assume that this is cygwin 1.5.)  See the documentation on mount (hint: the -m option might be especially useful) or just run setup, clicking through it, on the derivative machines.

Good luck.

- Barry
  Disclaimer: Statements made herein are not made on behalf of NIAID.


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Re: RE: Re: Cygwin portable bash

[Andy Holt]

Well, I'm not so sure that that is really a problem... I looked for 
fstab but couldn't even find one so I'm not sure where the mount table 
is specified. BUT I don't think that has anything to do with my current 
problem. I need to 'log in' to bash first. then I'll worry about the 
cygdrive mount points later. As far as the bin, lib, and root directory 
/ 'mount points' or whatever, the directory structure is the same across 
all of the windows computers (all running vista). So the bin is always 
C:\Users\Andy\My Dropbox\cygwin\bin, ..\lib ..\ etc. You get the point. 
So yea.

No progress thus far. :(

Buchbinder, Barry (NIH/NIAID) [E] wrote:
> I'm not aware that this has been mentioned before in this thread, but I'd worry that there is no mount table.  (I assume that this is cygwin 1.5.)  See the documentation on mount (hint: the -m option might be especially useful) or just run setup, clicking through it, on the derivative machines.
>
> Good luck.
>
> - Barry
>   Disclaimer: Statements made herein are not made on behalf of NIAID.
>
>   

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Re: Cygwin portable bash

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#TOFU>  Reformatted.

On 09/27/2009 10:51 PM, Andy Holt wrote:
> Buchbinder, Barry (NIH/NIAID) [E] wrote:
>> I'm not aware that this has been mentioned before in this thread, but
>> I'd worry that there is no mount table. (I assume that this is cygwin
>> 1.5.) See the documentation on mount (hint: the -m option might be
>> especially useful) or just run setup, clicking through it, on the
>> derivative machines.
> Well, I'm not so sure that that is really a problem... I looked for
> fstab but couldn't even find one so I'm not sure where the mount table
> is specified. BUT I don't think that has anything to do with my current
> problem. I need to 'log in' to bash first. then I'll worry about the
> cygdrive mount points later. As far as the bin, lib, and root directory
> / 'mount points' or whatever, the directory structure is the same across
> all of the windows computers (all running vista). So the bin is always
> C:\Users\Andy\My Dropbox\cygwin\bin, ..\lib ..\ etc. You get the point.
> So yea.
>
> No progress thus far. :(

I think you'd be enlightened if you looked at the User's Guide like Barry
suggested.  Without the proper mounts set, Cygwin is going to have
allot of trouble finding your "installation".  Reading up on 'mount' will help
you understand how to make the mount points the same across all
systems you work on, which will likely help you allot.  Also note that
there is no 'fstab' file in Cygwin 1.5 (though there is in 1.7).  So that's
another reason why you want to know about 'mount' and not waste any
time with 'fstab' (on Cygwin 1.5).

-- 
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
216 Dalton Rd.                          (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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Re: Re: Cygwin portable bash

[Andy Holt]

ok, all apologies. I am familiar with mount, but if there is something 
extra special about how it works w/in cygwin I will check the Users 
Guide. I appreciate the direction, sorry I misunderstood (thought he was 
just telling me to 'man mount' and I felt that would be a waste of time 
since I am already familiar with the general of mount and the different 
basic linux mount points like bin and / and swap etc).

However, I also did not realize I was using an outdated version of 
cygwin!! Perhaps I should work off of 1.7 instead of 1.5? This sounds 
like it would probably make things a bit easier. is 1.7 stable enough?

Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote:
> <div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: 
> -moz-fixed"><http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#TOFU>  Reformatted.
>
> On 09/27/2009 10:51 PM, Andy Holt wrote:
>> Buchbinder, Barry (NIH/NIAID) [E] wrote:
>>> I'm not aware that this has been mentioned before in this thread, but
>>> I'd worry that there is no mount table. (I assume that this is cygwin
>>> 1.5.) See the documentation on mount (hint: the -m option might be
>>> especially useful) or just run setup, clicking through it, on the
>>> derivative machines.
>> Well, I'm not so sure that that is really a problem... I looked for
>> fstab but couldn't even find one so I'm not sure where the mount table
>> is specified. BUT I don't think that has anything to do with my current
>> problem. I need to 'log in' to bash first. then I'll worry about the
>> cygdrive mount points later. As far as the bin, lib, and root directory
>> / 'mount points' or whatever, the directory structure is the same across
>> all of the windows computers (all running vista). So the bin is always
>> C:\Users\Andy\My Dropbox\cygwin\bin, ..\lib ..\ etc. You get the point.
>> So yea.
>>
>> No progress thus far. :(
>
> I think you'd be enlightened if you looked at the User's Guide like Barry
> suggested.  Without the proper mounts set, Cygwin is going to have
> allot of trouble finding your "installation".  Reading up on 'mount' 
> will help
> you understand how to make the mount points the same across all
> systems you work on, which will likely help you allot.  Also note that
> there is no 'fstab' file in Cygwin 1.5 (though there is in 1.7).  So 
> that's
> another reason why you want to know about 'mount' and not waste any
> time with 'fstab' (on Cygwin 1.5).
>

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Re: Cygwin portable bash

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 09/29/2009 12:51 AM, Andy Holt wrote:
> ok, all apologies. I am familiar with mount, but if there is something
> extra special about how it works w/in cygwin I will check the Users
> Guide. I appreciate the direction, sorry I misunderstood (thought he was
> just telling me to 'man mount' and I felt that would be a waste of time
> since I am already familiar with the general of mount and the different
> basic linux mount points like bin and / and swap etc).

The semantics of Cygwin's mount are different than that of traditional 
Unix/Linux.
Principally, Cygwin's mount is responsible for mapping DOS paths into POSIX
paths.  It does not mount file-systems at the driver level like Unix/Linux.

> However, I also did not realize I was using an outdated version of
> cygwin!! Perhaps I should work off of 1.7 instead of 1.5? This sounds
> like it would probably make things a bit easier. is 1.7 stable enough?

1.7 is officially Beta (http://cygwin.com/#beta-test) but is very close to 
release.
Which you choose to use is up to you.

-- 
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
216 Dalton Rd.                          (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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