Cygwin: Difference between revisions

"Cygwin" is two things. For one, it is a DLL implementing most of the POSIX API on top of Windows, so to ease porting GNU/Linux tools to Windows.

 

But in a wider sense it is also a setup.exe for downloading and installing a wide collection of such ported tools on your Windows machine, including a bash shell, GCC toolchain, Apache, PostgreSQL, and many other valuables. As such, it enables OS developers working with Windows to use the same toolset as OS developers under Linux.

 

The Cygwin installer offers to add an icon to your start menu and / or desktop. By clicking on that, you get a console which actually is a bash shell. /cygdrive/<letter>/ under Cygwin is equivalent to <letter>:\ under Windows.

 

After the installer finished, you just pick up the GCC manual from gcc.gnu.org (or do 'info gcc' in the Cygwin shell) and be a happy camper.

 

If you go beyond OS development, there are several caveats regarding Cygwin that make its approach of "POSIX on Windows" less than perfect. Some of these caveats are collected in the [Cygwin Issues] document. Two more refer to [Licensing Issues] when linking Windows applications using Cygwin:

 

If you intend to use the Cygwin gcc for building software, you should check out the permutations of the "win32" and "no-cygwin" options.

 

http://www.cygwin.com/ - Cygwin Environment Official Site