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Re: [HEADSUP] Let's start a Cygwin 1.7 release area


On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Corinna Vinschen wrote:

> [snip]
> > >>>   Get own path   ==> C:\\cygwin\\bin\\cygwin1.dll
> > >>>   Where's fstab? ==> C:\\cygwin\\etc\\fstab
> > >>
> > >> So, it implicitly computes where / is?
> > >
> > >No, it doesn't.  It just snips away the last two path components and
> > >tacks the etc/fstab string on.  Plus the .$SID to get the user mounts.
> > >
> > >After the mount points have been read, root can potentially be
> > >somewhere else entirely.

So would it make sense to put the root mount info in the same directory as
cygwin1.dll?  I know it doesn't belong in /bin, but playing with relative
paths is even more error-prone.

> [snip]
> > For 1.7, I think we ought to decouple /bin <> /usr/bin and /lib <>
> > /usr/lib.  The rationale for keeping those linked no longer applies in
> > the modern setup.exe world.
>
> Full ACK!  However, this needs a bit of careful revisiting of some of
> the packages.  For instance, assuming the Cygwin DLL will go to /bin,
> cygrunsrv should also reside in /bin when we do this, not in /usr/bin,
> obviously.

Umm, i don't see how that follows.  cygrunsrv can easily reside in
/usr/bin, as long as (a) /bin is in the PATH when cygrunsrv is invoked
from the shell, and (b) when cygrunsrv installs the services, it adds /bin
to the PATH in the service environment.

> Right now I must admit that I prectically don't care if my packages
> install the binaries in /bin or /usr/bin.

/bin should contain programs that should work even if the PATH and mounts
are screwed up.  So, "kill", "shutdown", etc.

> > >Or simply
> > >
> > >    root / ntfs binary 0 0
> > >
> > >and stick to /usr/bin and /usr/lib as they are today.
> >
> > I think something like an automount is needed since it would be nice
> > to eventually generalize the cygdrive stuff and we don't want to
> > explicitly mount a: - z: So, maybe we could consider a linux-like
> > solution to accomplish this although I really don't like automount.
>
> I'm not sure I understand this, that's why I was puzzled above.
> Do you think that / should be free as today:
>
>   C:\arbitrary\useless\new\path / ntfs binary 0 0
>
> or do you think an automatic approach as the above
>
>   root / ntfs binary 0 0
>
> is the way to go?  As for cygdrives, isn't the
>
>   cygdrive /mnt auto binary 0 0
>
> already along the lines of an automount?!?

It is, IMHO.

> > >I have the vague feeling it would be sufficient to install only a
> > >/etc/fstab, even in "just me" mode, though.  The fstab.$SID file is
> > >only necessary in multi-user installations, IMHO.
> >
> > Why do we need a fstab.$SID and linux doesn't need this?
>
> Let me think...
>
> I don't know.  I assume I just took this as it is.  I guess the
> only reason to create user mounts to begin with was, so that any
> non-privileged user can create mount points, too, for a pure
> "just me" installation in a restricted environment.

That, and also to allow completely disjoint Cygwin installations for
different users (where the mount table would otherwise be shared).  But
this effect can also be accomplished with /etc/fstab (one per
installation).

> However, that's not really necessary anymore with /etc/fstab.
> So I agree, we can simply get rid of fstab.$SID.

Yes, that reasoning is mostly correct.  However, some packages (like
Cygwin/X) apparently assume a single-user installation, and create
sockets/temp files in shared locations (i.e., /tmp).  That, unfortunately,
makes the default startup scripts insufficient to allow multiple users to
run Cygwin/X sessions simultaneously, unless that shared location is
overridden in a per-user manner (e.g., through user mounts).  So, until we
figure out how to solve that issue, user mounts are actually userful.
	Igor
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
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     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		old name: Igor Pechtchanski
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.  That is the whole
Torah; the rest is commentary.  Go and study it." -- Rabbi Hillel


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