88 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
88 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
@chapter What is it?
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The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for
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Microsoft Windows. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which
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provides the UNIX system calls and environment these programs expect.
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With these tools installed, it is possible to write Win32 console or
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GUI applications that make use of the standard Microsoft Win32 API
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and/or the Cygwin API. As a result, it is possible to easily
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port many significant Unix programs without the need
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for extensive changes to the source code. This includes configuring
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and building most of the available GNU software (including the packages
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included with the Cygwin development tools themselves). Even if
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the development tools are of little to no use to you, you may have
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interest in the many standard Unix utilities provided with the package.
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They can be used both from the bash shell (provided) or from the
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standard Windows command shell.
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@section What versions of Windows are supported?
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Wait a minute... Cygwin is only @emph{supported} if you are paying for
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it, such as through a support contract with Red Hat. For information
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about getting a Red Hat support contract, see
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@file{http://www.redhat.com/software/tools/cygwin/}.
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That said, Cygwin can be expected to run on all modern 32 bit versions of
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Windows, except Windows CE. This includes Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.
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Keep in mind that Cygwin can only do as much as the underlying OS
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supports. Because of this, Cygwin will behave differently, and
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exhibit different limitations, on the various versions of Windows.
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@section Where can I get it?
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The home page for the Cygwin project is @file{http://cygwin.com/}.
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There you should find everything you need for Cygwin, including links
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for download and setup, a current list of mirror sites, a User's
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Guide, an API Reference, mailing lists and archives, and additional
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ported software.
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You can find documentation for the individual GNU tools at
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@file{http://www.fsf.org/manual/}. (You should read GNU manuals from a
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local mirror. Check @file{http://www.fsf.org/server/list-mirrors.html}
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for a list of them.)
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@section Is it free software?
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Yes. Parts are GNU software (gcc, gas, ld, etc...), parts are covered
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by the standard X11 license, some of it is public domain, some of
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it was written by Cygnus and placed under the GPL. None of it is
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shareware. You don't have to pay anyone to use it but you should be
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sure to read the copyright section of the FAQ more more information on
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how the GNU General Public License may affect your use of these tools.
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In particular, if you intend to port a proprietary (non-GPL'd)
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application using Cygwin, you will need the proprietary-use license
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for the Cygwin library. This is available for purchase; please visit
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@file{http://www.redhat.com/software/tools/cygwin/} for more information.
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All other questions should be sent to the project
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mailing list cygwin@@cygwin.com.
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Note that when we say "free" we mean freedom, not price. The goal of
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such freedom is that the people who use a given piece of software
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should be able to change it to fit their needs, learn from it, share
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it with their friends, etc. The Cygwin license allows you those
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freedoms, so it is free software.
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@section What version of Cygwin @emph{is} this, anyway?
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To find the version of the Cygwin DLL installed, you can use
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@file{uname} as on Linux or @file{cygcheck}. Refer to each command's
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@samp{--help} output and the @uref{http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/,
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Cygwin User's Guide} for more information.
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If you are looking for the a version number for the whole Cygwin
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release, there is none. Each package in the Cygwin release has its own
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version. The packages in Cygwin are continually improving, thanks to
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the efforts of net volunteers who maintain the Cygwin binary ports.
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Each package has its own version numbers and its own release process.
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So, how do you get the most up-to-date version of Cygwin? Easy. Just
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download the Cygwin Setup program from
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@uref{http://cygwin.com/setup.exe}. This program will handle the task
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of updating the packages on your system to the latest version. For
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more information about using Cygwin's @file{setup.exe}, see
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@uref{http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/setup-net.html, Setting Up Cygwin}
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in the Cygwin User's Guide.
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