c549e953a9
GNU no longer encourages the use of documentation mirrors, to avoid
referring to obsolete documentation. Also www.fsf.org/manual/ is
just a redirect to www.gnu.org/manual/
Links to using-utils.html #fragments are no longer correct as each utility
is now a separate page, since 646745cb.
indiana.edu seems to have moved XLiveCD information, without a redirect.
Linking to clean_setup.pl on cygwin.com doesn't work, as direct downloads
aren't allowed, so instead state where it can be found on a mirror.
Signed-off-by: Jon Turney <jon.turney@dronecode.org.uk>
146 lines
6.4 KiB
XML
146 lines
6.4 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding='UTF-8'?>
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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.5//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
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<qandadiv id="faq.about">
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<title>About Cygwin</title>
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<!-- faq-what.xml -->
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<qandaentry id="faq.what.what">
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<question><para>What is it?</para></question>
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<answer>
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<para>Cygwin is a distribution of popular GNU and other Open Source tools
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running on Microsoft Windows. The core part is the Cygwin library which
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provides the POSIX system calls and environment these programs expect.
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</para>
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<para>The Cygwin distribution contains thousands of packages from the Open
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Source world including most GNU tools, many BSD tools, an X server and a full
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set of X applications. If you're a developer you will find tools, headers
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and libraries allowing to write Windows console or GUI applications that make
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use of significant parts of the POSIX API. Cygwin allows easy porting of many
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Unix programs without the need for extensive changes to the source code. This
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includes configuring and building most of the available GNU or BSD software,
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including the packages included with the Cygwin distribution themselves.
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They can be used from one of the provided Unix shells like bash, tcsh or zsh.
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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, released versions of Windows.
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State January 2016 this includes Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and all
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later versions of Windows up to Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.
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The 32 bit version of Cygwin also runs in the WOW64 32 bit environment on
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released 64 bit versions of Windows, the 64 bit version of course only on
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64 bit Windows.
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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
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<ulink url="https://cygwin.com/"/>.
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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.
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</para>
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<para>You can find documentation for the individual GNU tools typically
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as man pages or info pages as part of the Cygwin net distribution.
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Additionally you can get the latest docs at
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<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/manual"/>.
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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 Red Hat (or the former Cygnus Solutions) and placed under
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the GPL. None of it is shareware. You don't have to pay anyone to use it
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but you should be sure to read the copyright section of the FAQ for more
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information on how the GNU General Public License may affect your use of
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these tools.
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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 GPL or LGPL licenses 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
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<ulink url='https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/'>Cygwin User's Guide</ulink>
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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 by following the instructions
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<ulink url='https://cygwin.com/install.html'>here</ulink>.
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The setup program will handle the task of updating the packages on your system
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to the latest version. For more information about using Cygwin's
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<filename>setup.exe</filename>, see
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<ulink url='https://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
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questions, all of these people will appreciate it if you use the cygwin
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mailing lists rather than sending personal email.)</emphasis>
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</para>
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<para>
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Corinna Vinschen is the current project lead. Corinna is a senior Red Hat
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engineer. Corinna is responsible for the Cygwin library and maintains a couple
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of packages, for instance OpenSSH, OpenSSL, and a lot more.
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</para>
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<para>
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Yaakov Selkowitz is another Red Hat engineer working on the Cygwin project.
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He's the guy behind the current build and packaging system and maintains by
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far the most packages in the Cygwin distribution.
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</para>
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<para>
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Jon Turney is developer and maintainer of the Cygwin X server and a couple
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of related packages.
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</para>
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<para>
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The packages in the Net release are maintained by a large group of people;
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a complete list can be found
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<ulink url='https://cygwin.com/cygwin-pkg-maint'>here</ulink>.
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</para>
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<para>Please note that all of us working on Cygwin try to be as responsive as
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possible and deal with patches and questions as we get them, but realistically
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we don't have time to answer all of the email that is sent to the main mailing
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list. Making Net releases of the Win32 tools and helping people on the Net out
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is not our primary job 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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</qandadiv>
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