diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'winsup/doc/faq-what.xml')
-rw-r--r-- | winsup/doc/faq-what.xml | 206 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 206 deletions
diff --git a/winsup/doc/faq-what.xml b/winsup/doc/faq-what.xml deleted file mode 100644 index 3260abf8e..000000000 --- a/winsup/doc/faq-what.xml +++ /dev/null @@ -1,206 +0,0 @@ -<!-- faq-what.xml --> -<qandaentry id="faq.what"> -<question><para>What is it?</para></question> -<answer> - -<para>The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for -Microsoft Windows. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which -provides the UNIX system calls and environment these programs expect. -</para> -<para>With these tools installed, it is possible to write Win32 console or -GUI applications that make use of the standard Microsoft Win32 API -and/or the Cygwin API. As a result, it is possible to easily -port many significant Unix programs without the need -for extensive changes to the source code. This includes configuring -and building most of the available GNU software (including the packages -included with the Cygwin development tools themselves). Even if -the development tools are of little to no use to you, you may have -interest in the many standard Unix utilities provided with the package. -They can be used both from the bash shell (provided) or from the -standard Windows command shell. -</para> -</answer></qandaentry> - -<qandaentry id="faq.what.supported"> -<question><para>What versions of Windows are supported?</para></question> -<answer> - -<para>Cygwin can be expected to run on all modern 32 bit versions of -Windows, except Windows CE. This includes Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003 -and the WOW64 32 bit environment on released 64 bit versions of Windows. -As far as we know no one is working on a native 64 bit version of Cygwin. -Since Cygwin is a community-supported free software project, patches to -provide support for other versions would be thoughtfully considered. -Paid support contracts or enhancements are available through Red Hat. For -information about getting a Red Hat support contract, see -<ulink url="http://cygwin.com/license.html" />. -</para> -<para>Keep in mind that Cygwin can only do as much as the underlying OS -supports. Because of this, Cygwin will behave differently, and -exhibit different limitations, on the various versions of Windows. -</para> -</answer></qandaentry> - -<qandaentry id="faq.what.where"> -<question><para>Where can I get it?</para></question> -<answer> - -<para>The home page for the Cygwin project is <ulink url="http://cygwin.com/">http://cygwin.com/</ulink>. -There you should find everything you need for Cygwin, including links -for download and setup, a current list of mirror sites, a User's -Guide, an API Reference, mailing lists and archives, and additional -ported software. -</para> -<para>You can find documentation for the individual GNU tools at -<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/manual/" />. (You should read GNU manuals from a -local mirror. Check <ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/server/list-mirrors.html" /> -for a list of them.) -</para> -</answer></qandaentry> - -<qandaentry id="faq.what.free"> -<question><para>Is it free software?</para></question> -<answer> - -<para>Yes. Parts are GNU software (gcc, gas, ld, etc...), parts are covered -by the standard X11 license, some of it is public domain, some of -it was written by Cygnus and placed under the GPL. None of it is -shareware. You don't have to pay anyone to use it but you should be -sure to read the copyright section of the FAQ for more information on -how the GNU General Public License may affect your use of these tools. -</para> -<para>In particular, if you intend to port a proprietary (non-GPL'd) -application using Cygwin, you will need the proprietary-use license -for the Cygwin library. This is available for purchase; please visit -<ulink url="http://cygwin.com/license.html" /> for more information. -All other questions should be sent to the project -mailing list cygwin@cygwin.com. -</para> -<para>Note that when we say "free" we mean freedom, not price. The goal of -such freedom is that the people who use a given piece of software -should be able to change it to fit their needs, learn from it, share -it with their friends, etc. The Cygwin license allows you those -freedoms, so it is free software. -</para> -</answer></qandaentry> - -<qandaentry id="faq.what.version"> -<question><para>What version of Cygwin <emphasis>is</emphasis> this, anyway?</para></question> -<answer> - -<para>To find the version of the Cygwin DLL installed, you can use -<filename>uname</filename> as on Linux or <filename>cygcheck</filename>. Refer to each command's -<literal>--help</literal> output and the <ulink url='http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/'>Cygwin User's Guide</ulink> for more information. -</para> -<para>If you are looking for the version number for the whole Cygwin -release, there is none. Each package in the Cygwin release has its own -version. The packages in Cygwin are continually improving, thanks to -the efforts of net volunteers who maintain the Cygwin binary ports. -Each package has its own version numbers and its own release process. -</para> -<para>So, how do you get the most up-to-date version of Cygwin? Easy. Just -download the Cygwin Setup program from -<ulink url='http://cygwin.com/setup.exe'>http://cygwin.com/setup.exe</ulink>. This program will handle the task -of updating the packages on your system to the latest version. For -more information about using Cygwin's <filename>setup.exe</filename>, see -<ulink url='http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/setup-net.html'>Setting Up Cygwin</ulink> -in the Cygwin User's Guide. -</para></answer></qandaentry> - -<qandaentry id="faq.what.history"> -<question><para>History</para></question> -<answer> -<para>See <ulink url="http://cygwin.com/history.html">http://cygwin.com/history.html</ulink>. -</para> -</answer></qandaentry> - -<qandaentry id="faq.what.who"> -<question><para>Who's behind the project?</para></question> -<answer> - -<para><emphasis role='bold'>(Please note that if you have cygwin-specific questions, all of these people will appreciate it if you use the cygwin mailing lists rather than sending personal email.)</emphasis> -</para> -<para>Chris Faylor is behind many of the recent changes in Cygwin. Prior to -joining Cygnus, he contributed significant fixes to the process control -and environ code, reworked the strace mechanism, and rewrote the -signal-related code from scratch as a Net contributor. In addition to -continuing to make technical contributions, Chris is also currently the -group's manager. -</para> -<para>Corinna Vinschen has contributed several useful fixes to the path -handling code, console support, improved security handling, and raw -device support. Corinna is currently employed by Red Hat as a -GDB/Cygwin engineer. -</para> -<para>DJ Delorie has done important work in profiling Cygwin, -worked on the Dejagnu automated testing framework, merged the dlltool -functionality into ld, wrote a good deal of the Cygwin Users' Guide, -authored the cygcheck utility, and made automated snapshots available -from our project WWW page. DJ is currently employed by Red Hat as -a GCC engineer. -</para> -<para>Egor Duda has contributed many useful fixes. He is responsible for -Cygwin's ability to start a debugger on detection of a fatal error -as well as produce core dumps. -</para> -<para>Robert Collins has contributed many improvements to thread handling -as well as generic fixes to cygwin itself. -</para> -<para>Kazuhiro Fujieda has contributed many bug fixes and bug reports. -</para> -<para>Earnie Boyd has contributed many bug fixes and is the mingw and w32api -maintainer. -</para> -<para>David Starks-Browning is our dedicated FAQ maintainer. -</para> -<para>Geoffrey Noer took over the Cygwin project from its initial author Steve -Chamberlain in mid-1996. As maintainer, he produced Net releases beta -16 through 20; made the development snapshots; worked with Net -contributors to fix bugs; made many various code improvements himself; -wrote a paper on Cygwin for the 1998 Usenix NT Symposium; authored the -project WWW pages, FAQ, README; etc. Geoffrey is not currently employed -by Red Hat. -</para> -<para>Steve Chamberlain designed and implemented -Cygwin in 1995-1996 while working for Cygnus. He worked with the Net -to improve the technology, ported/integrated many of the user tools -for the first time to Cygwin, and produced all of the releases up to -beta 14. Steve is not currently employed by Red Hat. -</para> -<para>Marco Fuykschot and Peter Boncz of Data Distilleries contributed nearly -all of the changes required to make Cygwin thread-safe. They also -provided the pthreads interface. -</para> -<para>Sergey Okhapkin has been an invaluable Net contributor. He implemented -the tty/pty support, has played a significant role in revamping signal -and exception handling, and has made countless contributions throughout -the library. He also provided binaries of the development snapshots to -the Net after the beta 19 release. -</para> -<para>Mumit Khan has been most helpful on the EGCS end of things, providing -quite a large number of stabilizing patches to the compiler tools for -the B20 release. -</para> -<para>Philippe Giacinti contributed the implementation of dlopen, dlclose, -dlsym, dlfork, and dlerror in Cygwin. -</para> -<para>Ian Lance Taylor did a much-needed rework of the path handling code for -beta 18, and has made many assorted fixes throughout the code. Jeremy -Allison made significant contributions in the area of file handling and -process control, and rewrote select from scratch. Doug Evans rewrote -the path-handling code in beta 16, among other things. Kim Knuttila and -Michael Meissner put in many long hours working on the now-defunct -PowerPC port. Jason Molenda and Mark Eichin have also made important -contributions. -</para> -<para>Please note that all of us working on Cygwin try to -be as responsive as possible and deal with patches and questions as we -get them, but realistically we don't have time to answer all of the -email that is sent to the main mailing list. Making Net releases of the -Win32 tools and helping people on the Net out is not our primary job -function, so some email will have to go unanswered. -</para> -<para>Many thanks to everyone using the tools for their many contributions in -the form of advice, bug reports, and code fixes. Keep them coming! -</para></answer></qandaentry> - |