Re: setup 2.194.2.24: Bug (?) in downloading from internet

[Sam Edge <sam_edgeZZZ at hotmail dot com>]

Charles Wilson wrote in <3CCC7290.706@ece.gatech.edu>
in gmane.os.cygwin on Sun, 28 Apr 2002 18:07:12 -0400:

> <begin rant>
> Robert, you are a saint.
> I am sick and tired of the whining about setup and downloads.
> SETUP IS NOT A MIRRORING TOOL.

LOL. No need to get your knickers in a twist! I was merely explaining
the limitations of setup.exe to Gary. ;-)

The problem with time limited slow connections is valid even when
using it purely for local setup on a single machine i.e. when NOT
using it as a mirroring tool. 

A simple checkbox option on the download-only page to skip
pre-downloaded packages even if they're selected in the list would
deal with that and I really don't see how this would compromise its
function in any way, as long as it were off by default.

Unless someone can give a good reason why it /would/ be a bad idea,
I'll look at the code and see if I can write a version that has this.

> In order to make this clear, I am in favor of completely removing the 
> download-only option, leaving just install-from-internet and 
> install-from-localdir.  This will force the whiners to either shut up 
> and use a fscking mirroring tool, or help out:

It will also stop users on slow time-limited connections from being
able to use setup.exe at all unless they first use a conventional
FTP/HTTP mirroring client and set up their own local FTP server to
which to connect setup.exe. They then have to work out which parts of
one of the current mirrors are required for their particular needs and
download those packages. They'll also end up with two copies of
everything on their hard discs.

This is hardly a good way of increasing the Cygwin user/developer
base!

-- 
Sam Edge

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