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Re: Reduce noise in dependency declaration during uninstall in setup.exe
- From: Andrey Repin <anrdaemon at yandex dot ru>
- To: Cliff Hones <cliff at hones dot org dot uk>, cygwin at cygwin dot com
- Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:06:20 +0400
- Subject: Re: Reduce noise in dependency declaration during uninstall in setup.exe
- Authentication-results: sourceware.org; auth=none
- References: <52DF0B86 dot 5030402 at etr-usa dot com> <52DF1477 dot 2050707 at etr-usa dot com> <52DF18B1 dot 5050200 at cygwin dot com> <20140122060243 dot GC4286 at ednor dot casa dot cgf dot cx> <52E03241 dot 6010000 at etr-usa dot com> <20140123011304 dot GB2526 at ednor dot casa dot cgf dot cx> <52E128E7 dot 1090205 at etr-usa dot com> <52E132CB dot 6030609 at hones dot org dot uk>
- Reply-to: Andrey Repin <cygwin at cygwin dot com>
Greetings, Cliff Hones!
> I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but I suspect the problem with
> maintenance/extension of setup.exe is twofold: firstly, it's a non-Cygwin
> program and secondly it is large and not well structured. Also, the original
> implementer/maintainer has long since left the Cygwin community.
The fact setup is a non-Cygwin application is actually intended goal.
This way it can actually install and, which is more important, update Cygwin.
> One solution to this would be to reimplement it as two separate parts - a
> non-Cygwin envelope (which could even be installed as an msi) and a
> Cygwin-based package maintainer. The Cygwin-based part would be a
> completely separate Cygwin installation, with its own cygwin1.dll,
I call Occam's razor. You are trying to replace a single application, which
already exists and works quite fine with a set of applications, that do the
same, as well as potentially cause a headache to the user, if accidentally
mishandled.
All setup is really need is more APT-like mechanics of package dependency
handling. That's all. What it already does, it does pretty much sufficiently.
Also, don't forget, that heavy part of installation/update process is enclosed
in postinstall scripts, which are run in Cygwin environment.
--
WBR,
Andrey Repin (anrdaemon@yandex.ru) 23.01.2014, <20:59>
Sorry for my terrible english...
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