Is it okay to delete Cygwin (mirror) download directories?

Is it okay to delete Cygwin (mirror) download directories?

[Olumide]

Hi -

Over the years I've updated my gotten my Cygwin fix from a number of 
mirrors each one of which has left a massive download directory (in 
excess of 700Mb) on my hard disk. For example:

ftp%3a%2f%2flinux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de%2fcygwin
http%3a%2f%2fftp.uni-kl.de%2fpub%2fwindows%2fcygwin%2f
http%3a%2f%2fftp.gwdg.de%2fpub%2flinux%2fsources.redhat.com%2fcygwin%2f

Now I'm running out of HD space I'm looking to reclaim some of that 
space. Is it okay to delete some or all of these directories? I'm 
concerned that the Cygwin setup program uses one of these folders to 
determine what programs I've currently got installed.

Thanks,

- Olumide


--
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

Re: Is it okay to delete Cygwin (mirror) download directories?

[Christopher Faylor]

On Sun, May 08, 2011 at 01:32:12AM +0100, Olumide wrote:
>Hi -
>
>Over the years I've updated my gotten my Cygwin fix from a number of 
>mirrors each one of which has left a massive download directory (in 
>excess of 700Mb) on my hard disk. For example:
>
>ftp%3a%2f%2flinux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de%2fcygwin
>http%3a%2f%2fftp.uni-kl.de%2fpub%2fwindows%2fcygwin%2f
>http%3a%2f%2fftp.gwdg.de%2fpub%2flinux%2fsources.redhat.com%2fcygwin%2f
>
>Now I'm running out of HD space I'm looking to reclaim some of that 
>space. Is it okay to delete some or all of these directories? I'm 
>concerned that the Cygwin setup program uses one of these folders to 
>determine what programs I've currently got installed.

Yes.  It's perfectly ok to delete everything in your cygwin download
directory.

cgf

--
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

Re: Is it okay to delete Cygwin (mirror) download directories?

[Weiqi Gao]

On 05/07/2011 07:32 PM, Olumide wrote:
> Hi -
>
> Over the years I've updated my gotten my Cygwin fix from a number of
> mirrors each one of which has left a massive download directory (in
> excess of 700Mb) on my hard disk. For example:
>
> ftp%3a%2f%2flinux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de%2fcygwin
> http%3a%2f%2fftp.uni-kl.de%2fpub%2fwindows%2fcygwin%2f
> http%3a%2f%2fftp.gwdg.de%2fpub%2flinux%2fsources.redhat.com%2fcygwin%2f
>
> Now I'm running out of HD space I'm looking to reclaim some of that
> space. Is it okay to delete some or all of these directories? I'm
> concerned that the Cygwin setup program uses one of these folders to
> determine what programs I've currently got installed.
>
> Thanks,

I routinely delete these directories without any ill effects.  The 
setup.exe program will recreate them and refill them up as new versions 
are downloaded and installed.  The only time you don't want to delete 
them is after you downloaded a bunch of updates but before you have 
installed them.

The setup program does not use these directories to determine what has 
been installed (as far as I understand, and I am a mere user of setup.exe.)

Give it a try.  What's the worse that can happen?  A messed up Cygwin 
installation?  You can always delete the whole thing and start over.

-- 
Weiqi Gao
weiqigao@gmail.com
http://www.weiqigao.com/blog/

--
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

Re: Is it okay to delete Cygwin (mirror) download directories?

[Jens Schweikhardt]

On Sun, May 08, 2011 at 01:32:12AM +0100, Olumide wrote:
...
# Now I'm running out of HD space I'm looking to reclaim some of that
# space. Is it okay to delete some or all of these directories? I'm
# concerned that the Cygwin setup program uses one of these folders to
# determine what programs I've currently got installed.

That's recorded in /etc/setup/installed.db which you can inspect with a
text editor.

Regards,

	Jens
-- 
Jens Schweikhardt http://www.schweikhardt.net/
SIGSIG -- signature too long (core dumped)

--
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

Re: Is it okay to delete Cygwin (mirror) download directories?

[Olumide]

On 5/8/2011 7:23 AM, Jens Schweikhardt wrote:
> On Sun, May 08, 2011 at 01:32:12AM +0100, Olumide wrote:
> ...
> # Now I'm running out of HD space I'm looking to reclaim some of that
> # space. Is it okay to delete some or all of these directories? I'm
> # concerned that the Cygwin setup program uses one of these folders to
> # determine what programs I've currently got installed.
>
> That's recorded in /etc/setup/installed.db which you can inspect with a
> text editor.

Thanks!

(reaches for the delete key ...)



--
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