How to check cygwin version?

[Brian Inglis]

On 2020-07-01 07:36, Jeffrey Walton via Cygwin wrote:
> I think the documentation leaves a lot to be desired... I'm trying to
> tell someone what version of Cygwin I am using.
> 
> There's a FAQ item at
> https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.what.version. It gives this
> useless advice:
> 
>    To find the version of the Cygwin DLL installed, you can use uname
>    as on Linux or cygcheck. Refer to each command's --help output and
>    the Cygwin User's Guide for more information.
> 
> OK, let's try it:
> 
> $ cygcheck -v
> Usage: cygcheck [-v] [-h] PROGRAM
>        cygcheck -c [-d] [PACKAGE]
>        cygcheck -s [-r] [-v] [-h]
>        cygcheck -k
>        ...
> 
> OK, -v is what we need:
> 
> $ cygcheck -v cygwin
> cygcheck: could not find 'cygwin'
> 
> OK, another failure.
> 
> RTFM does not work. Why the hell don't you just state how to check the
> god damn version?

Do you think it would help if this FAQ entry were changed to read:

1.5. What version of Cygwin is this, anyway?
     To find the version of the Cygwin DLL installed, you can use any of the
Cygwin commands uname -a, uname -srvm, head /proc/version as on Linux, or
cygcheck -V. Refer to each command's --help output or the Cygwin User's Guide
for more information.

and please make any further comments, feedback, or suggestions you think would
help with this entry.

Running the suggested commands with their --help options would have shown you:

$ uname --help
Usage: uname [OPTION]...
Print certain system information.  With no OPTION, same as -s.

  -a, --all                print all information, in the following order,
                             except omit -p and -i if unknown:
  -s, --kernel-name        print the kernel name
  -n, --nodename           print the network node hostname
  -r, --kernel-release     print the kernel release
  -v, --kernel-version     print the kernel version
  -m, --machine            print the machine hardware name
  -p, --processor          print the processor type (non-portable)
  -i, --hardware-platform  print the hardware platform (non-portable)
  -o, --operating-system   print the operating system
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/uname>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) uname invocation'

$ cygcheck --help
Usage: cygcheck [-v] [-h] PROGRAM
       cygcheck -c [-d] [PACKAGE]
       cygcheck -s [-r] [-v] [-h]
       cygcheck -k
       cygcheck -f FILE [FILE]...
       cygcheck -l [PACKAGE]...
       cygcheck -p REGEXP
       cygcheck --delete-orphaned-installation-keys
       cygcheck -h

List system information, check installed packages, or query package database.

At least one command option or a PROGRAM is required, as shown above.

  PROGRAM              list library (DLL) dependencies of PROGRAM
  -c, --check-setup    show installed version of PACKAGE and verify integrity
                       (or for all installed packages if none specified)
  -d, --dump-only      just list packages, do not verify (with -c)
  -s, --sysinfo        produce diagnostic system information (implies -c)
  -r, --registry       also scan registry for Cygwin settings (with -s)
  -k, --keycheck       perform a keyboard check session (must be run from a
                       plain console only, not from a pty/rxvt/xterm)
  -f, --find-package   find the package to which FILE belongs
  -l, --list-package   list contents of PACKAGE (or all packages if none given)
  -p, --package-query  search for REGEXP in the entire cygwin.com package
                       repository (requires internet connectivity)
  --delete-orphaned-installation-keys
                       Delete installation keys of old, now unused
                       installations from the registry.  Requires the right
                       to change the registry.
  -v, --verbose        produce more verbose output
  -h, --help           annotate output with explanatory comments when given
                       with another command, otherwise print this help
  -V, --version        print the version of cygcheck and exit

Note: -c, -f, and -l only report on packages that are currently installed. To
  search all official Cygwin packages use -p instead.  The -p REGEXP matches
  package names, descriptions, and names of files/paths within all packages.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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