New section "Recent history of the project: What version *is* this, anyway?".
Rename section "A brief history of the project" to "Ancient history" and remove disclaimer about being out of date.
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@ -51,10 +51,78 @@ charge a fee for it. Plus, it provides income for the cygwin project so
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we can continue working on it. For further details about the commercial
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we can continue working on it. For further details about the commercial
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product, see @file{http://www.cygnus.com/cygwin/}.
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product, see @file{http://www.cygnus.com/cygwin/}.
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@section A brief history of the project
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@section Recent history of the project: What version @emph{is} this, anyway?
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@strong{(Please note: This section has not yet been updated for the latest
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Starting on April 17, 2000, the Cygwin team changed the procedure for
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net release.)}
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doing net releases.
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Previously, net releases entailed downloading one or two large files
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(called something like @code{FULL.EXE} or @code{USER.EXE}). These files
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unpacked a "Cygwin Distribution" to a static (and arcane) directory
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structure. This distribution contained lots of .exe, .a, .h, and other
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files.
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These distributions were named after the version of the Cygwin DLL which
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they contained. The last version released with this method was Cygwin
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B20.1.
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This distribution method has the advantage that everything was "all in
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one place". You could copy the huge FULL.EXE file around and know that
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you were getting the complete "Cygwin Distribution".
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The method had several disadvantages, however. 1) it was huge, 2) it
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was hard to download in one error-free piece, and 3) it was hard to
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update.
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Why was it hard to update? Because any change to any package in
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FULL.EXE meant re-generating all of FULL.EXE. This process was not easy
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to automate since FULL.EXE was an InstallShield executable. As a
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result, until recently, Cygwin development was relatively static.
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To rectify these problems, the Cygwin team decided, early in January
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2000, to break up the packages in the release and make a small program
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(@code{setup.exe}) available to use in downloading packages. After much
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development and internal discussion on the cygwin-developers mailing
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list, the new, improved version of a Cygwin release was made available
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on April 17, 2000.
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This new release also had a new version of the Cygwin DLL -- 1.1.0.
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Most of the other packages were updated and some packages from the
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Cygwin CD were included. Meanwhile, the Cygwin DLL continues to be
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updated, and is more generically referred to as "1.1.x".
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Users obtain this package by first downloading a version of
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@code{setup.exe}. This program started as a simple command line tool,
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has metamorphosed into a GUI, and is in the process of continual
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improvement. However, its purpose is simple -- it is designed to
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install packages from the cygwin web site at sources.redhat.com. In
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effect, it is a smaller, more intelligent replacement for FULL.EXE. It
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does not require the downloading a huge executable but rather downloads
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individual small packages.
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Does this mean that the new net release of the Cygwin package is 1.1.x?
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No. We no longer label the releases with the Cygwin version number.
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Each package in the cygwin release has its own version now.
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Does this mean that Cygwin 1.1.x is newer than B20.1? Yes! The cygwin
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1.1.x versions all represent continual improvement in the Cygwin DLL.
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Although the 1.1.x code is still considered "beta quality", the Cygwin
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team felt comfortable enough with the cygwin technology to bump the
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version number to "1".
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The other packages in the latest directory are also continually
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improving, some thanks to the efforts of net volunteers who maintain the
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cygwin binary ports. Each package has its own version numbers and
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its own release process.
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So, how do you get the most up-to-date version of cygwin? Easy. Just
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download the setup.exe program from your closest mirror. This program
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will handle the task of updating the packages on your system to the
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latest version. The Cygwin team frequently updates and adds new
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packages to the soureware web site. The setup.exe program is the
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easiest way to determine what you need on your system.
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@section Ancient history of the project
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The first thing done was to enhance the development tools (gcc, gdb,
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The first thing done was to enhance the development tools (gcc, gdb,
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gas, et al) so that they could generate/interpret Win32 native object
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gas, et al) so that they could generate/interpret Win32 native object
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