159 lines
7.7 KiB
XML
159 lines
7.7 KiB
XML
<!-- faq-what.xml -->
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<qandaentry id="faq.what">
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<question><para>What is it?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para>The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for
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Microsoft Windows. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which
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provides the UNIX system calls and environment these programs expect.
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</para>
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<para>With these tools installed, it is possible to write Win32 console or
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GUI applications that make use of the standard Microsoft Win32 API
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and/or the Cygwin API. As a result, it is possible to easily
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port many significant Unix programs without the need
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for extensive changes to the source code. This includes configuring
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and building most of the available GNU software (including the packages
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included with the Cygwin development tools themselves). Even if
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the development tools are of little to no use to you, you may have
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interest in the many standard Unix utilities provided with the package.
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They can be used both from the bash shell (provided) or from the
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standard Windows command shell.
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</para>
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</answer></qandaentry>
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<qandaentry id="faq.what.supported">
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<question><para>What versions of Windows are supported?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para>Cygwin can be expected to run on all modern 32 bit versions of
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Windows, except Windows CE. This includes Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003
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and the WOW64 32 bit environment on released 64 bit versions of Windows.
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As far as we know no one is working on a native 64 bit version of Cygwin.
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Since Cygwin is a community-supported free software project, patches to
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provide support for other versions would be thoughtfully considered.
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Paid support contracts or enhancements are available through Red Hat. For
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information about getting a Red Hat support contract, see
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<ulink url="http://cygwin.com/license.html" />.
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</para>
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<para>Keep in mind that Cygwin can only do as much as the underlying OS
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supports. Because of this, Cygwin will behave differently, and
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exhibit different limitations, on the various versions of Windows.
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</para>
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</answer></qandaentry>
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<qandaentry id="faq.what.where">
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<question><para>Where can I get it?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para>The home page for the Cygwin project is <ulink url="http://cygwin.com/">http://cygwin.com/</ulink>.
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There you should find everything you need for Cygwin, including links
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for download and setup, a current list of mirror sites, a User's
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Guide, an API Reference, mailing lists and archives, and additional
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ported software.
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</para>
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<para>You can find documentation for the individual GNU tools at
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<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/manual/" />. (You should read GNU manuals from a
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local mirror. Check <ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/server/list-mirrors.html" />
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for a list of them.)
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</para>
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</answer></qandaentry>
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<qandaentry id="faq.what.free">
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<question><para>Is it free software?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para>Yes. Parts are GNU software (gcc, gas, ld, etc...), parts are covered
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by the standard X11 license, some of it is public domain, some of
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it was written by Cygnus and placed under the GPL. None of it is
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shareware. You don't have to pay anyone to use it but you should be
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sure to read the copyright section of the FAQ for more information on
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how the GNU General Public License may affect your use of these tools.
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</para>
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<para>In particular, if you intend to port a proprietary (non-GPL'd)
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application using Cygwin, you will need the proprietary-use license
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for the Cygwin library. This is available for purchase; please visit
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<ulink url="http://cygwin.com/license.html" /> for more information.
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All other questions should be sent to the project
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mailing list cygwin@cygwin.com.
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</para>
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<para>Note that when we say "free" we mean freedom, not price. The goal of
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such freedom is that the people who use a given piece of software
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should be able to change it to fit their needs, learn from it, share
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it with their friends, etc. The Cygwin license allows you those
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freedoms, so it is free software.
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</para>
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</answer></qandaentry>
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<qandaentry id="faq.what.version">
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<question><para>What version of Cygwin <emphasis>is</emphasis> this, anyway?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para>To find the version of the Cygwin DLL installed, you can use
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<filename>uname</filename> as on Linux or <filename>cygcheck</filename>. Refer to each command's
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<literal>--help</literal> output and the <ulink url='http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/'>Cygwin User's Guide</ulink> for more information.
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</para>
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<para>If you are looking for the version number for the whole Cygwin
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release, there is none. Each package in the Cygwin release has its own
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version. The packages in Cygwin are continually improving, thanks to
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the efforts of net volunteers who maintain the Cygwin binary ports.
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Each package has its own version numbers and its own release process.
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</para>
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<para>So, how do you get the most up-to-date version of Cygwin? Easy. Just
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download the Cygwin Setup program from
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<ulink url='http://cygwin.com/setup.exe'>http://cygwin.com/setup.exe</ulink>. This program will handle the task
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of updating the packages on your system to the latest version. For
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more information about using Cygwin's <filename>setup.exe</filename>, see
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<ulink url='http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/setup-net.html'>Setting Up Cygwin</ulink>
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in the Cygwin User's Guide.
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</para></answer></qandaentry>
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<qandaentry id="faq.what.who">
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<question><para>Who's behind the project?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para><emphasis role='bold'>(Please note that if you have cygwin-specific questions, all of these people will appreciate it if you use the cygwin mailing lists rather than sending personal email.)</emphasis>
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</para>
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<para>Chris Faylor provided the Cygwin signal handler code. He also maintains
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the <ulink url='http://sourceware.org'>sourceware site</ulink> where the
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cygwin project lives.</para>
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<para>Corinna Vinschen has contributed several useful fixes to the path
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handling code, console support, improved security handling, and raw
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device support. Corinna is currently employed by Red Hat as a
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GDB/Cygwin engineer.
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</para>
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<para>Steve Chamberlain designed and implemented
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Cygwin in 1995-1996 while working for Cygnus. He worked with the Net
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to improve the technology, ported/integrated many of the user tools
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for the first time to Cygwin, and produced all of the releases up to
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beta 14. Steve is not currently employed by Red Hat.
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</para>
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<para>Sergey Okhapkin has been an invaluable Net contributor. He implemented
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the tty/pty support, has played a significant role in revamping signal
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and exception handling, and has made countless contributions throughout
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the library. He also provided binaries of the development snapshots to
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the Net after the beta 19 release.
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</para>
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<para>Philippe Giacinti contributed the implementation of dlopen, dlclose,
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dlsym, dlfork, and dlerror in Cygwin.
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</para>
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<para>Ian Lance Taylor did a much-needed rework of the path handling code for
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beta 18, and has made many assorted fixes throughout the code. Jeremy
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Allison made significant contributions in the area of file handling and
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process control, and rewrote select from scratch. Doug Evans rewrote
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the path-handling code in beta 16, among other things. Kim Knuttila and
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Michael Meissner put in many long hours working on the now-defunct
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PowerPC port. Jason Molenda and Mark Eichin have also made important
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contributions.
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</para>
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<para>Please note that all of us working on Cygwin try to
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be as responsive as possible and deal with patches and questions as we
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get them, but realistically we don't have time to answer all of the
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email that is sent to the main mailing list. Making Net releases of the
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Win32 tools and helping people on the Net out is not our primary job
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function, so some email will have to go unanswered.
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</para>
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<para>Many thanks to everyone using the tools for their many contributions in
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the form of advice, bug reports, and code fixes. Keep them coming!
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</para></answer></qandaentry>
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