Why /usr/bin/*.dll must be executable?

[De-Jian Zhao]

On 2012-4-20 21:07, Václav Zeman wrote:
> On 20 April 2012 15:02, De-Jian Zhao wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> When I type "cyg" and Tab, many executables starting with "cyg" are listed
>> (Display all 262 possibilities? (y or n) y). I find that many of them are
>> *.dll libraries under /usr/bin/. This is inconvenient to find the real
>> executable applications (*.exe). Since *.dll files are only libraries, they
>> are not necessary to have the attribute of "x". Thus, I run the command
>> "chmod a-x /usr/bin/*.dll". Unexpectedly, cygwin is corrupted. I closed the
>> terminal and failed to restart Cygwin. I started my  older version of Cygwin
>> (I did not deleted it after installing a new version), and added "x" to the
>> previous *.dll files. The dead Cygwin revived.
>>
>> I am confused why /usr/bin/*.dll should be executable. I thought they were
>> only library files. When I tried to run a dll file, bash says "cannot
>> execute binary file". Are there some hidden stories?
> DLLs are executables thus they need the +x bit. This is a Windows thing.
>

If this is a windows thing, removing the x bit should not affect Cygwin. 
Instead, Cygwin is corrupted after removing the x bit.

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