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Re: Multiple cygwin installs: I have to do it, but how?



Thanks to a hefty dose of RTFM, I'm finally on the list.  Thanks, Chuck,
for forwarding my posts while I was in my clueless state.

I've been thinking about it a bit more, and there is a better way to look
at this issue:  From an OO perspective.  Right now, Cygwin is a singleton.
We need only add an abstraction layer to allow multiple instances.

First, the Cygwin registry entries must be tied to a specific Cygwin
instance.  Hopefully, the location of the Cygwin root directory alone
should be sufficient to make the distinction.  So, under the "Cygnus
Solutions" key, there should be trees for each install, with the name of
the head of each tree being simply the path to the root for that install.
All the existing keys would then be replicated within that tree.  Simple?

As for cygwin1.dll, it needs to know which install launched it (or,
conversely, which install it belongs to), which in turn will let it
determine if a separate common memory area needs to be allocated and used.
This would be independent of the DLL version, which would allow each
install to be updated independently.  (However, the DLL version *may* need
to be saved in the Registry as well, though I'm not at all sure about
that.)  Would this work?

Still, we may need a way to bind each application installation to a
specific Cygwin instance.  Again, we can add information to the Registry to
handle this, though at this point it will be simpler to build a list of the
binaries "belonging" to a given Cygwin installation within a file located
under the root for that install (the logical place would be in /etc/setup).

Heck, all we need to do is place only the root mount point in the registry,
as the name of a key.  Everything else can (and should?) be in files within
the associated Cygwin installation, especially including all other mount
points.

Let's say an app is started that is not associated with any Cygwin
installation.  What should be done?  The cygwin1.dll need only make the
association by presenting the user with a list of the root points, and
requesting one of them be selected.  Then the app is added to that Cygwin
instance, and it runs under that environment.

This would even allow multiple Cygwin instances to share mount points, say
for data or home directories.  Also, there is no reason why a given program
can't be "registered" to run with multiple Cygwin instances (to avoid
redundant installs of apps that work fine under more than one
installation).

Someone, please tell me this is too simple to work.  (Not necessarily easy
to implement, but conceptually simple.)


-BobC



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