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Re: Cannot start X server


> >This is not really an XFree problem, rather it is a global Cygwin issue
> >caused by a policy change that took most people by surprise.
>
> Sounds like most people need to read the cygwin release announcements a
> little more closely rather than just blindly upgrading.
>
> cgf

It was not my intention to sound cynical.  I was merely pointing out that
the problem in question was not an XFree-specific problem.

However....

To a Cygwin developer or expert "CYGWIN=ntsec is now on by default"
probably serves fine as a description (albeit buried amongst 37 other
change notes).  However, most of the Cygwin-using community would not
mentally equate that with "I need to update my authentication files or
Cygwin will break" or know offhand how to do that.

The User's Guide is great.  However, your average user will not have waded
through the ntsec section for the fun of it, because a standard Cygwin
install works out of the box.  Ironically, uneducated users may be the
one price of quality (note that I must group myself as uneducated in the
true ways of Cygwin, although I've been using it and XFree for some time).

The "setup" program, which I run every morning like a kid at Christmas,
encourages people to install updates by making it mind-numbingly simple.
This is usually good and quite cool.  However, given that model, perhaps
a package mechanism which would inform users of required (non-automatable)
configuration changes would be nice.

This is not a flame.  I have a deep appreciation for the hard work that
goes into Cygwin and the quality of the evolving product--as well as for
the time spent by those individuals whose efforts make Cygwin possible.
I merely suggest that the upgrade process could do more to identify
potential impacts and suggest corrective action, be that in the release
notes or integrated into the process itself.

-Andy


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