Re: wise way to install cygwin packages

[Steven Woody <narkewoody at gmail dot com>]

On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 9:46 PM, Christopher Faylor
<cgf-use-the-mailinglist-please@cygwin.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 06:40:34AM -0400, Ken Jackson wrote:
>>On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:49:45 -0400
>>"Larry Hall (Cygwin)" <reply-to-list-only-lh@cygwin.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 10/08/2009 12:25 AM, Ken Jackson wrote:
>>> > It would be great to have a command-line package management tool.
>>> > For example, if yum were ported to Cygwin, for the case you cite,
>>> > you could do this:
>>> >
>>> > $ yum remove PA PB
>>>
>>> I believe the current answer to both of these needs is the setup
>>> program for the upcoming Cygwin 1.7 release
>>> <http://cygwin.com/setup-1.7.exe>. 'setup-1.7.exe -h' shows you the
>>> command line options and has a convenient '-P' switch to allow you
>>> to specify the packages you want to install.
>>
>>This is a step in the right direction. ?But the gui still pops up.
>>And it doesn't look as capable as yum or urpmi or apt-get.
>
> OTOH, it works and it doesn't require MASSIVE redesign to the way
> Cygwin packages are handled.
>
> Using <your favorite package manager> is not a new idea. ?It comes up
> every couple of months at least. ?If you think about the bootstrapping
> problems inherent in Windows you should be able to see why it isn't
> a simple problem to solve.
>
> It's on my todo list to get rid of the GUI pop-up from setup.exe when
> -P is used. ?I know that won't make it like rpm/yum/apt/dpkg/emerge.
>
> cgf
>

But I think even not involve in any new design or a new command line
option,  the current GUI still have a place to improve.  To me, the
big problem is, when I can not change a package's state directly into
'uninstall' without going through other states such as a version
number state 'nn.nn.nn'.  When I have to go through the version number
state (as necessary middle step according to current GUI installer
design), I actually automatically re-select (or re-active) other
packages that depend on this package I am operating on,  this is not I
expect and indeed create troubles.


-- 
Life is the only flaw in an otherwise perfect nonexistence
    -- Schopenhauer

narke
public key at http://subkeys.pgp.net:11371 (narkewoody@gmail.com)

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