Installing snapshots (Was Re: Segment fault/Bus error with Singular)

Igor Peshansky pechtcha@cs.nyu.edu
Wed Jan 11 17:34:00 GMT 2006


Ugh, top-posting...  Reformatted.

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006, Murray Eisenberg wrote:

> Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote:
> > Reformatted top-post...
> >
> > Murray Eisenberg wrote:
> >
> > > Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote:
> > >
> > > > Murray Eisenberg wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > I'm running latest Cygwin under Windows XP Pro (SP2, with all
> > > > > updates).  I installed all the Singular packages via Cygwin
> > > > > Setup.
> > > > >
> > > > > After I start cygwin with its bash shell, command
> > > > >
> > > > >   Singular
> > > > >
> > > > > gives error:
> > > > >
> > > > >   Singular " signal 11 (v: 3001/2005111410):
> > > > >   Segment fault/Bus error occurred (r:1136744764)
> > > > >   Please inform the authors
> > > > >   trying to restart...
> > > > >
> > > > > (The number after "r:" changes depending on what else is running
> > > > > in windows.)  But Cygwin never recovers, and it freezes.
> > > >
> > > > Does a recent snapshot make a difference?
> > > > <http://cygwin.com/snapshots/>
> > >
> > > Thanks for your reply that suggests to try a recent snapshot.
> > >
> > > I see nothing on the snapshots page (to which the URL you supplied
> > > points) about how to use these files.

Heh, I was sure there were instructions on that page.  I guess adding a
link to the FAQ wouldn't hurt.

> > See the FAQ entry:
> > <http://cygwin.com/faq/faq-nochunks.html#faq.setup.snapshots>
> > This has the proper steps to follow to install a snapshot.
>
> Unfortunately, the instructions in FAQ # 2.15 "How do I install
> snapshots?" is not completely clear.  It says that one should first
> close all Cygwin applications and shells.  But then it says to "run" a
> sequence of commands:
>
>   cd /
>   tar .......
>   cd /tmp
>   tar ......
>
> Now given that I was supposed to exit Cygwin, presumably these commands
> are to be run from a Windows command prompt.
>
> But then to what does root directory "/" refer?  To the Cygwin root? And
> if so, where should I have put the downloaded
> cygwin-inst-YYMMDD.tar.bz2?  And if "/" does not refer to the Cygwin
> root, to what does it refer?
>
> If the commands are to be run within Cygwin, on the other hand, then
> that would seem to contradict the first instruction, namely, to close
> all Cygwin applications and shells.

The FAQ is indeed confusing.  Perhaps the following wording would be
better (if it is, I'll submit a patch to the FAQ):

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, are you sure you want to do this?  Snapshots are risky.  They have
not been tested.  Use them only if there is a feature or bugfix that you
need to try, and you are willing to deal with any problems, or at the
request of a Cygwin developer.

You should generally install the full cygwin-inst-YYYYMMDD.tar.bz2 update,
rather than just the DLL, otherwise some components may be out of sync.

You cannot use Setup to install a snapshot.

First, you will need to download the snapshot from the
<a href="http://cygwin.com/snapshots/">snapshots page</a>.  Note the
directory where you saved the snapshot tarball.

Before installing a snapshot, you must first Close all Cygwin
applications, including shells and services (e.g. inetd, sshd).  You will
not be able to replace cygwin1.dll if any Cygwin process is running. You
may have to restart Windows to clear the DLL from memory (beware of
automatic service startup).

Most of the downloaded snapshot can be installed using tar.  Cygwin tar
won't be able to update /usr/bin/cygwin1.dll (because it's used by tar
itself), but it should succeed with everything else.  If you are only
installing the DLL snapshot, skip the first tar command.  Open a bash
shell (it should be the only running Cygwin process) and issue the
following commands:

	/bin/tar -C/ -jxvf /posix/path/to/cygwin-inst-YYYYMMDD.tar.bz2 --exclude=usr/bin/cygwin1.dll
	/bin/tar -C/tmp -jxvf /posix/path/to/cygwin-inst-YYYYMMDD.tar.bz2 usr/bin/cygwin1.dll
	/bin/mv /bin/cygwin1.dll /bin/cygwin1-prev.dll

Note that after the "mv" command you will not be able to run any Cygwin
programs.  Exit the bash shell, and use Explorer or the Windows command
shell to move C:\cygwin\tmp\usr\bin\cygwin1.dll to
C:\cygwin\bin\cygwin1.dll (assuming you installed Cygwin in C:\cygwin).

The operative word in trying the snapshots is "trying".  If you notice a
problem with the snapshot that was not present in the release DLL (what we
call a "regression"), please
<a href="http://cygwin.com/problems.html">report</a> it to the Cygwin
mailing list.  If you wish to go back to the older version of the DLL,
again, close all Cygwin processes, delete C:\cygwin\bin\cygwin1.dll, and
rename C:\cygwin\bin\cygwin1-prev.dll to C:\cygwin\bin\cygwin1.dll (again
assuming that your "/" is C:\cygwin).  To restore the rest of the snapshot
files, reinstall the "cygwin" package using Setup.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments?
	Igor
-- 
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