Re: Have I shot myself in the foot?

["Me @ Hotmail" <magus1011 at hotmail dot com>]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your reply.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Hall" <cygwin@cygwin.com>
To: "Me @ Hotmail" <magus1011@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 11:16 AM
Subject: Re: Have I shot myself in the foot?


> At 12:55 AM 2/1/2001, Me @ Hotmail wrote:
> >Ouch,
> >
> >I installed Cygwin the other day and several programs have been broken
ever
> >since. I followed the instructions and added C:\cygwin\bin to my path
before
> >my default windows directories. Then when I ran any of my batch files
that
> >counted on finding a command in C:\windows\command like find, or ping in
> >/windows, er ... C:\windows, the batch files hung or crashed. OK, move it
> >after the default windows directories. Now when I use the Cygwin tools
like
> >/bin/find, they don't work right. Humm. I took a look at the cygwin.pif
file
> >that starts Cygwin and then the batch file that it runs. Ah Ha! I added a
> >line "SET PATH=C:\cygwin\bin;C:\cygwin\usr\local\bin;%PATH%" above the
> >"bash --login -i" line and marvel of marvels everybody's happy. UH OH!
> >That's usually, on Windoze, a "Bad Sign" TM.
> >
> >I decided to push my luck. I moved cygwin1.dll to c:\windows and copied
some
> >of the Cygwin commands to C:\windows\command because I'm tired of having
to
> >retype ls -l <fileglob> as dir <fileglob> many times a day. You see, I
> >learned computing on an IBM 360 with OS. Then came an IBM 370 with OS/VS
and
> >then a PDP with AT&T Unix IV with BSD Extensions. Despite all the years,
> >when I'm in front of a keyboard that isn't an 029 keypunch, I still think
in
> >Unix. Now everybody on my machine is really happy, Cygwin seems to work
just
> >fine as does Windoze. I even get to type my favorite commands once
instead
> >of twice.
> >
> >So what's going to break? My Visual C++ V 5.0? gcc (I'll never get used
to
> >that g, got to rename it to cc)? What?
>
>
>
> Probably nothing will break until you try to update with setup.exe.  When
> you do that, you'll have two cygwin1.dlls on your system and that will be
a
> problem.  If you remember to do everything you did after this install, you

You're right, I hadn't considered that I would have two cygwin1.dll's on my
system. That's just asking for trouble.

> can get yourself back to the current state I would guess.  However,
problems
> you might encounter in your custom configuration aren't going to be
> supportable by this list.  So you'll be pretty much on your own here.

Yes, I expect that. Customize anything and it's no longer supported by the
manufacturer.

>
> To my mind, you could get pretty much the same thing as you have now by:
>
>    1. Editing Cywgin.bat to put Cygwin paths first (kinda like you did
with
>       cygwin.pif, whatever that is).  I really thought that setup.exe did

Cygwin.pif is the "Shortcut", as Windows 9x refers to them, that runs
CYGWIN.BAT. Not all "shortcut's" are .PIF files. Others are .LNK files and
either just point to another executable or to an Internet URL. PIF files are
specifically used when running command.com. PIF files are hold-overs from
Windows 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and 3.11. Both these extensions are quite
deliberately hidden from you by Windoze and cannot be unhidden. The only way
you can see what you are really dealing with is at the command line. If you
do a dir at the command line in the directory your "Cygwin Bash Shell" menu
item is in, you should see both the 8.3 filename as CYGWIN~1.PIF and the
long filename as "Cygwin Bash Shell.pif". If you, as I did, copy this item
from the start menu to the Quick Launch directory it will show there as
CYGWIN.PIF for both the 8.3 name and the long name.

My editing, as I mentioned, was done to the CYGWIN.BAT file. Apparently
setup doesn't do this or install "C:\CYGWIN;" at the start of your path.

>       this for you though so I'm a little confused about your need to do
>       it elsewhere (then again, I don't use setup myself so I'm not
>       that familiar with its ins-and-outs).
>
>    2. Put the Cygwin paths last in the path defined in autoexec.bat for
>       W9x/ME or the control panel for NT/W2K.

Good ideas. I'm going to try this. Then I can remove the duplicates from
"C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND", cygwin1.dll from C:\WINDOWS and free up a tiny bit of
disk space while at the same time keeping things more like the manufacturer
wants.

>
> Now you have something that afford the benefits you're looking for, as I
> understand them, and still is upgradeable.
>
>
>
> Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
> RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
> 118 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
> Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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