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diff --git a/winsup/doc/effectively.xml b/winsup/doc/effectively.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..cb25628fd --- /dev/null +++ b/winsup/doc/effectively.xml @@ -0,0 +1,184 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding='UTF-8'?> +<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.5//EN" + "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"> + +<sect1 id="using-effectively"> +<title>Using Cygwin effectively with Windows</title> + +<para> +Cygwin is not a full operating system, and so must rely on Windows for +accomplishing some tasks. For example, Cygwin provides a POSIX view +of the Windows filesystem, but does not provide filesystem drivers of +its own. Therefore part of using Cygwin effectively is learning to use +Windows effectively. +Many Windows utilities provide a good way to interact with Cygwin's +predominately command-line environment. For example, +<command>ipconfig.exe</command> provides information about network +configuration, and <command>net.exe</command> views and configures +network file and printer resources. Most of these tools +support the <literal>/?</literal> switch to display usage information. +</para> + +<para> +Unfortunately, no standard set of tools included with all versions of +Windows exists. Generally, the younger the Windows version, the more +complete are the on-board tools. Microsoft also provides free downloads +for Windows XP (the Windows Support Tools). Additionally, many independent +sites such as +<ulink url="http://download.com">download.com</ulink>, +<ulink url="http://simtel.net">simtel.net</ulink>, +and Microsoft's own +<ulink url="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx">Sysinternals</ulink> +provide quite useful command-line utilities, as far as they are not +already provided by Cygwin. A few Windows tools, such as +<command>find.exe</command>, <command>link.exe</command> and +<command>sort.exe</command>, may conflict with the Cygwin versions +make sure that you use the full path (<command>/usr/bin/find</command>) +or that your Cygwin <literal>bin</literal> directory comes first in your +<envar>PATH</envar>. +</para> + +<sect2 id="using-pathnames-effectively"> <title>Pathnames</title> + +<para> +Windows programs do not understand POSIX pathnames, so any arguments +that reference the filesystem must be in Windows (or DOS) format or +translated. Cygwin provides the <command>cygpath</command> utility for +converting between Windows and POSIX paths. A complete description of its +options and examples of its usage are in <xref linkend="cygpath"></xref>, +including a shell script for starting Windows Explorer in any directory. +The same format works for most Windows programs, for example +<screen> +<literal>notepad.exe "$(cygpath -aw "Desktop/Phone Numbers.txt")"</literal> +</screen> +A few programs require a Windows-style, semicolon-delimited path list, +which <command>cygpath</command> can translate from a POSIX path with the +<literal>-p</literal> option. For example, a Java compilation from +<command>bash</command> might look like this: +<screen> +<literal>javac -cp "$(cygpath -pw "$CLASSPATH")" hello.java</literal> +</screen> +Since using quoting and subshells is somewhat awkward, it is often +preferable to use <command>cygpath</command> in shell scripts. +</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2 id="using-net"> <title>Cygwin and Windows Networking</title> +<para> +Many popular Cygwin packages, such as <systemitem>ncftp</systemitem>, +<systemitem>lynx</systemitem>, and <systemitem>wget</systemitem>, require a +network connection. Since Cygwin relies on Windows for connectivity, +if one of these tools is not working as expected you may need to +troubleshoot using Windows tools. The first test is to see if you +can reach the URL's host with <command>ping.exe</command>, one of the +few utilities included with every Windows version since Windows 95. +If you chose to install the <systemitem>inetutils</systemitem> package, +you may have both +Windows and Cygwin versions of utilities such as <command>ftp</command> +and <command>telnet</command>. If you are having problems using one +of these programs, see if the alternate one works as expected. +</para> + +<para> +There are a variety of other programs available for specific situations. +If your system does not have an always-on network connection, you +may be interested in <command>rasdial.exe</command> for automating dialup +connections. +Users who frequently change their network +configuration can script these changes with <command>netsh.exe</command>. +For proxy users, the open source +<ulink url="http://apserver.sourceforge.net"> +NTLM Authorization Proxy Server</ulink> or the no-charge +<ulink url="http://www.hummingbird.com/products/nc/socks/index.html"> +Hummingbird SOCKS Proxy</ulink> may allow you to use Cygwin network +programs in your environment. +</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2 id="using-cygutils"><title>The cygutils package</title> + +<para> +The optional <systemitem>cygutils</systemitem> package contains +miscellaneous tools that are small enough to not require their own package. +It is not included in a default Cygwin install; select it from the Utils +category in <command>setup.exe</command>. Several of the +<systemitem>cygutils</systemitem> tools are useful for interacting with +Windows.</para> + +<para> +One of the hassles of Unix-Windows interoperability is the different line +endings on text files. As mentioned in <xref linkend="using-textbinary"></xref>, +Unix tools such as <command>tr</command> can convert between CRLF and LF +endings, but <systemitem>cygutils</systemitem> provides several dedicated programs: +<command>conv</command>, <command>d2u</command>, <command>dos2unix</command>, +<command>u2d</command>, and <command>unix2dos</command>. Use the +<literal>--help</literal> switch for usage information. +</para> +</sect2> + +<sect2 id="using-shortcuts"><title>Creating shortcuts with cygutils</title> +<para> +Another problem area is between Unix-style links, which link one file +to another, and Microsoft .lnk files, which provide a shortcut to a +file. They seem similar at first glance but, in reality, are fairly +different. By default, Cygwin does not create symlinks as .lnk files, +but there's an option to do that, see <xref linkend="using-cygwinenv"></xref>. +These symlink .lnk files are compatible with Windows-created .lnk files, +but they are still different. They do not include much of the information +that is available in a standard Microsoft shortcut, such as the working +directory, an icon, etc. The <systemitem>cygutils</systemitem> +package includes a <command>mkshortcut</command> utility for creating +standard native Microsoft .lnk files. +</para> + +<para> +But here's the problem. If Cygwin handled these native shortcuts like any +other symlink, you could not archive Microsoft .lnk files into +<command>tar</command> archives and keep all the information in them. +After unpacking, these shortcuts would have lost all the extra information +and would be no different than standard Cygwin symlinks. Therefore these two +types of links are treated differently. Unfortunately, this means that the +usual Unix way of creating and using symlinks does not work with native +Windows shortcuts. +</para> +</sect2> + +<sect2 id="using-printing"><title>Printing with cygutils</title> +<para> +There are several options for printing from Cygwin, including the +<command>lpr</command> found in <systemitem>cygutils</systemitem> (not to be confused with the +native Windows <command>lpr.exe</command>). The easiest way to use <systemitem>cygutils</systemitem>' +<command>lpr</command> is to specify a default device name in the +<envar>PRINTER</envar> environment variable. You may also specify a device +on the command line with the <literal>-d</literal> or <literal>-P</literal> +options, which will override the environment variable setting. +</para> + +<para> +A device name +may be a UNC path (<literal>\\server_name\printer_name</literal>), a reserved +DOS device name (<literal>prn</literal>, <literal>lpt1</literal>), or a +local port name that is mapped to a printer share. Note that forward slashes +may be used in a UNC path (<literal>//server_name/printer_name</literal>), +which is helpful when using <command>lpr</command> from a shell that uses +the backslash as an escape character. +</para> + +<para> +<command>lpr</command> sends raw data to the printer; no formatting is done. +Many, but not all, printers accept plain text as input. If your printer +supports PostScript, packages such as +<systemitem>a2ps</systemitem> and <systemitem>enscript</systemitem> can prepare +text files for printing. The <systemitem>ghostscript</systemitem> package also +provides some translation +from PostScript to various native printer languages. Additionally, a native +Windows application for printing PostScript, <command>gsprint</command>, is +available from the <ulink url="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/">Ghostscript +website</ulink>. +</para> + +</sect2> + +</sect1> |