RE: Bug in startxwin.bat after installing with setup.exe in win98SE

[Harold L Hunt <huntharo at msu dot edu>]

Bernard,

> I have to disagree.  Absence of complaints does not imply absence of errors.
> Many people become "used to" buggy software that only works if you don't deviate
> from the well-trodden path.
>

Okay, if you are so smart, explain to me how I can put a drive letter into a
batch file that is expected to work on computers where Cygwin could be
installed on ``c:\cygwin'' or ``d:\cygwin''?  I certainly could not put ``c''
as the drive, nor could I put ``d'' as the drive.  So, what do you suggest?

Okay, okay, so you are thinking, ``just use cygpath, duh''.  However, if I
could use ``cygpath'', then that implies that I already know where the Cygwin
binaries are located since I just ran one of them.  But, I don't know where
the Cygwin binaries are located, as that is why we are guessing what the path is.

> That's no excuse to fail to fix a known problem.
>

Huh?  There are things in life that are worth spending time on because they
will have a large effect, and there are things in life that are not worth
spending time on because they will have almost no effect whatsoever.  Changing
the startxwin.bat file to allow people to run it from a location other than
where it is installed to (which has got to be obvious to most users as doing
something that was not intended), is one of those things that will have almost
no effect.  You are going to have to do a lot better than that if you expect
me to keep my gleaming white ass in a dimly lit room programming when I could
be sitting outside by the pool, getting a tan, and drinking a beer.

Man, if you are going to try to one-up the maintainer in public, you had damn
well better be giving a complete solution, rather than trying to suggest that
the maintainer creates one himself.  Because in the latter case you just open
yourself up to off-topic ranting like I just did.  Yes, this makes me feel
better when I get to write funny things about how I don't like to program. 
So, in a way, you have done me a good service.  Thank you :)

Harold


Bernard A Badger <bab@vx.com> said:

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cygwin-owner@cygwin.com [mailto:cygwin-owner@cygwin.com]On Behalf
> > Of Harold L Hunt
> > Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 10:27 AM
> > To: willichnicht habichnet; cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
> > Cc: cygwin@cygwin.com
> > Subject: Re: Bug in startxwin.bat after installing with setup.exe in
> > win98SE
> >
> >
> > First: Wrong mailing list.  Send all Cygwin/XFree86 questions to
> > cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com.  I have redirected this discussion to the correct
> > mailing list, but be careful to remove cygwin@cygwin.com from the ``cc'' if
> > you reply to this message.
> >
> > Second: Read the extensive comments in startxwin.bat that talk about
> > CYGWIN_ROOT.  Not specifying a drive causes the path to reference \cygwin on
> > the current drive (such as c:\cygwin, or d:\cygwin).  You have to run
> > startxwin.bat from the same drive that Cygwin is installed on, or it won't get
> > the correct drive letter.
> >
> > startxwin.bat has been using this path setting system for over a year (I
> > think) and not a *single* person has reported a problem with it until today.
> > You must be doing something on your system that other users thought better of
> > (such as running startxwin.bat from the d drive, or from a network drive, when
> > Cygwin is installed on the c drive).
> 
> I have to disagree.  Absence of complaints does not imply absence of errors.
> Many people become "used to" buggy software that only works if you don't deviate
> from the well-trodden path.  That's no excuse to fail to fix a known problem.
> 
> The comments you mention:
> REM
> REM The path in the CYGWIN_ROOT environment variable assignment assume
> REM that Cygwin is installed in a directory called 'cygwin' in the root
> REM directory of the current drive.  You will only need to modify
> REM CYGWIN_ROOT if you have installed Cygwin in another directory.  For
> REM example, if you installed Cygwin in \foo\bar\baz\cygwin, you will need
> REM to change \cygwin to \foo\bar\baz\cygwin.
> REM
> REM This batch file will almost always be run from the same drive (and
> REM directory) as the drive that contains Cygwin/XFree86, therefore you will
> REM not need to add a drive letter to CYGWIN_ROOT.  For example, you do
> REM not need to change \cygwin to c:\cygwin if you are running this
> REM batch file from the C drive.
> REM
> don't explain what is wrong with adding a drive lettter, only that
> it "almost always" works because the drive letter already matches.
> 
> You need the drive letter to make an absolute path.
> (By the way, "." is redundant in a Windows path anyway.)
> 
> >
> > Harold
> >
> >
> > willichnicht habichnet <tbb_666@yahoo.com> said:
> >
> > > i installed cygwin/XFree86 with the recommended
> > > setup.exe in win98SE.
> > > starting X with startxwin.bat resulted in
> > > errormessages like "cygwin1.dll not found" etc.
> > > in startxwin.bat there was a line "SET
> > > CYGWIN_ROOT=\cygwin" which seemed to be incorrect
> > > because theres no drive given.
> > > after editing it to "SET CYGWIN_ROOT=c:\cygwin"
> > > (installation path) everything works fine.
> > > i installed it on a win2000 too without these problems
> > > but on an other win98-system same corrupted
> > > startxwin.bat was there.
> > > i have not tried an other installation directory or
> > > drive.
> > > this message is only for information; i need no other
> > > solution.
> > >
> > > Michael Heide
> > >
> > >