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Cygwin on W2k (and Xp)?


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Hello dear friends!

 

Some applications developed for Linux claim to have versions running on Windows if Cygwin is present.

 

So I install Cygwin, then the applications that require it, and they run? Can it possibly be that simple...?

 

From https://cygwin.com/ and https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/ov-new1.7.html , I understand that

- As of Juli 2014, the latest (v1.7.30) runs on Xp Sp3 and later

- v1.7.18 is the latest meant for W2k

is that correct? And is v1.7.18 the best choice for a plain vanilla W2k?

 

I've found that installer for Xp sp3, the other Win I have to use presently:

http://cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe

but at 725kB it can't be a full installer, is it? Just a fetcher of Web resources, isn't it?

 

I have not found (rather, not reasonably certain) the installer of the v1.7.18 binary

http://www.fruitbat.org/Cygwin/#cygwintimemachine

http://ftp.eq.uc.pt/software/pc/prog/cygwin/release/cygwin/

http://cygwin.cybermirror.org/release/cygwin/

since the W2k will stay permanently offline, I need a complete installer, not a fetcher. Where can I find that?

 

Recommendations, comments...? Thanks!

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No.

The CygWin is a sort of "emulation layer" (not exactly, but it would be easy if you can temporarily accept this rough approximation of a proper definition).

A "pure" Linux tool can be expressly re-compiled (in order to work on the Windows) in two main ways:

  1. in the CygWin environment
  2. in the MinGW environment

 
https://www.cygwin.com/
  
 

...isn't it?
Cygwin is not:
a way to run native Linux apps on Windows. You must rebuild your application from source if you want it to run on Windows.
a way to magically make native Windows apps aware of UNIX® functionality like signals, ptys, etc. Again, you need to build your apps from source if you want to take advantage of Cygwin functionality.

http://www.mingw.org/

 

MinGW, a contraction of "Minimalist GNU for Windows", is a minimalist development environment for native Microsoft Windows applications.

MinGW provides a complete Open Source programming tool set which is suitable for the development of native MS-Windows applications, and which do not depend on any 3rd-party C-Runtime DLLs. (It does depend on a number of DLLs provided by Microsoft themselves, as components of the operating system; most notable among these is MSVCRT.DLL, the Microsoft C runtime library. Additionally, threaded applications must ship with a freely distributable thread support DLL, provided as part of MinGW itself).

MinGW compilers provide access to the functionality of the Microsoft C runtime and some language-specific runtimes. MinGW, being Minimalist, does not, and never will, attempt to provide a POSIX runtime environment for POSIX application deployment on MS-Windows. If you want POSIX application deployment on this platform, please consider Cygwin instead.

 

 

Linux is (essentially) POSIX.

Windows has (limited) POSIX support (that is "hooked" using Cygwin and expanded by the cygwin .dll(s)) and it's own C runtimes (that can be "hooked" using MinGW).

 

The "main difference" between the two (from a user viewpoint) is that MinGW compiled executables for windows are "self standing", whilst CygWin compiled executableds for windows need the additional cygwin1.dll and often a number of other .dll's.

 

Most (but not all) CygWin tools/programs will be delivered as an archive or an installer already containing the needed-for-the-app CygWin .dll's.

If a .dll is missing, you need to add it to the program folder (or put it in a directory within PATH).

There is often however a "versioning" nightmare for these .dll's, so installing the whole CygWin is often onot a solution.

 

See this only seemingly OT thread to get a feeling of the size (and ways of install of CygWin  :ph34r:):

http://reboot.pro/topic/15207-why-everything-is-so-dmn-diificult-a-web-quest-for-ddexe/

 

Do not panic :), this won't be needed often, possibly never, as said most programs ported to cygwin do provide in the download package the needed .dll's.

 

jaclaz

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