attention alternatives maintainer

Doug Henderson djndnbvg@gmail.com
Thu Jul 15 23:07:34 GMT 2021


Please update alternatives to work properly for a first time install
of an alternative when CYGWIN=winsymlinks:nativestrict.

See the recent thread on the cygwin mailing list with subject

Setup shows errors from gnuplot-base.dash and python38-devel.sh

In essence, when CYGWIN=winsymlinks:nativestrict., the first time it
runs, a postinstall script for a package that uses alternatives will
fail. Once it has succeeded once, it will subsequently run without
error.

In order to make it run I must set  CYGWIN=winsymlinks:native, run the
postinstall script in an elevated shell (or from setup). Then I can
restore CYGWIN=winsymlinks:nativestrict. I think the link target must
be created before the symlink is created. Without looking at the code,
I suspect the order of two symlink needs to be reversed.

The basis for the problem is the difference between POSIX and Windows
symlinks.As I understand it, Windows symlinks need to :"know" if the
target is a file or directory, while the POSIX symlink does not
require the target to exist.

Thanks,
Doug

-- 
Doug Henderson, Calgary, Alberta, Canada - from gmail.com


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