Adding MSYS functionality to Cygwin

[Warren Young]

On 6/18/2013 13:31, Christopher Faylor wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 01:10:06PM -0600, Warren Young wrote:
>>> 3. In MSYS mode Cygwin need to be very portable
>>
>> It would indeed be nice to have a portable Cygwin.  That is, one that
>> could be run from a copied directory or USB key, without being formally
>> installed.  Such a thing would need to solve the 3PP problem, though,
>> which is Hard (tm).
>
> Why wouldn't that work now?  You can copy cygwin1.dll anywhere you want.

Because FAQ item 4.19, and because 3PP.

I'm envisioning some configuration option (runtime or build time) that 
would create a cygwin1.dll that only serves the executable(s) shipped 
alongside it.  If there is more than one executable, they would only be 
expected to cooperate with each other, so that the need for a common 
cygheap wouldn't obtain.

Such a distribution wouldn't be "Cygwin" per se.  Its primary purpose 
would be so people could bundle the DLL with a program that runs in its 
own little world, or a system of such programs.

In this mode, Cygwin wouldn't require any persistent configuration 
(files on disk, the registry, etc.) or create such.  It would start up 
in its default mode, provide whatever services the executable that 
loaded it required, and quietly go away again without leaving any 
footprints behind when unloaded.

The executable linked to cygwin1p.dll ('p' = portable build variant) 
could make any persistent changes it wanted, of course.  I'm just saying 
that this Portable Cygwin DLL that I have handwaved into existence 
shouldn't do this on its own behalf, or require that anyone else do it 
for the DLL ahead of time.

In other words, I'm trying to turn the second 'P' in 3PP back into 
"Packagers".  Bring the perverts back into the fold, as it were, instead 
of casting them out, thus giving them no reason to try and cooperate 
with mainline Cygwin.

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