win32 dia and HOME=/usr/bin/%USERPROFILE% fix

[Soren A.]

Brian Koehmstedt <bpk@hungry.com> wrote in
news:20030616125948.A19258@hungry.com: 

> 
> I had the problem of bash starting up with the home directory being
> /usr/bin/%USERPROFILE%.
> 
> I searched the mailing list and came up with a January thread on the
> issue, which informed me that the problem was due to the win32 dia
> installer creating a Windows environment HOME variable that superceded
> bash's normal HOME.

OK, glad you found a solution. I have no idea what "dia" is (sometimes I 
wonder a bit if people posting to Cygwin have any idea how much software is 
available for _any_ OS (e.g., GNU/Linux), let alone MS Windos, and how 
unlikely it is that their interests and pursuits coincide with those of 
other regular readers...), but if it sets a HOME variable in the Windows 
environment, then that would indeed be where Cygwin starts the user, 
instead of under Cygwin's (POSIX-style hierarchy) "/home{USER}" dir.

Come to think of it, I do know what dia is, it is an Open Source drawing 
and diagramming tool.

But I have to point out for posteriors ... oops, I mean for *posterity*, 
that this isn't a BUG in Cygwin, this is a FEATURE. I personally *want* 
Cygwin to honor my setting of $HOME (%HOME%) because I keep my user dir 
files outside the Cygwin fs hierarchy (makes my life easier if I decide a 
total wipe-and-reinstall of my Cygwin installation is necessary). Also, I 
may want some other, non-Cygwin software to be able to use a HOME dir that 
Cygwin knows about too.

> Edit the cygwin.bat file and put "set HOME=" somewhere in it.  This
> unsets the Windows HOME environment variable and Cygwin/bash starts up
> with the correct HOME environment variable.

To wrap up, I have to challenge this erronious understanding. Bash's 
"correct" HOME directory is what you TELL it is HOME unless you don't 
really mean it. Unlike some <cough Microsoft cough> software systems, 
Cygwin's BASH (or any BASH) doesn't assume it knows better than the user.

Soren A.


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