Error in uninstallation instructions.

[Brian Inglis]

On 2025-11-21 13:26, Reid Burton via Cygwin wrote:
> I was in the process of freeing up space on my computer, and I found that
> cygwin was taking up more space than I thought, I was trying to uninstall
> it, but it was failing to delete /dev/nul, the problem was that dos systems
> are forbidden from deleting files with that and a few other names (see
> https://superuser.com/questions/282194/how-do-i-remove-a-file-named-nul-on-windows)
> I believe that this information should be included in the removal
> documentation.
Cygwin uninstallation involves using Cygwin Setup to uninstall all packages, 
then deleting any remnants that Setup does not remove under that Cygwin root.

Cygwin does not install /dev/nul, it installs the Unix equivalent driver:

$ ls -glo /dev/nul*
crw-rw-rw- 1 1, 3 Nov 21 14:14 /dev/null

although it exists in Windows as the NUL device driver, as if mapped into every 
directory, but neither searchable nor deletable; although if you actually have 
files with Windows reserved names, Cygwin commands (rm/rmdir) will delete them, 
as will using Windows console commands like del \\?\C:\My\Path\NUL

See also:

https://superuser.com/questions/282194/how-do-i-remove-a-file-named-nul-on-windows

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

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retrancher  but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry