Re: possible to copy whole cygwin folder to different machine?

[Igor Pechtchanski <pechtcha at cs dot nyu dot edu>]

Sebastian,

Please don't send personal e-mail with Cygwin questions unless
specifically requested.  Also, please make sure your mailer honors the
Reply-To field.  I'm redirecting this to the appropriate list.

More replies inline below.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003, Sebastian Hoffmann wrote:

> Hi!
> Many thanks for your reply!
>
> >  > I suppose that simply copying the folder will result in permission
> >>  problems (due to different owners etc.). But maybe it is still
> >>  somehow possible...?
> >
> >The first thing you should do is replicate the mounts (see the "-m" flag
> >in "mount --help" or "man mount").  You should also be aware of the
> >ntsec-related things, like /etc/passwd and /etc/group (the SIDs change
> >across machines, even if the user name is the same).  If you have any
> >services installed, they'll have to be moved manually.
>
> Mhm - this sounds about as tricky as getting people to fiddle with an
> apache configuration file... ;-) My "target audience" is a group of
> people many of whom will not manage much more than putting a CD-ROM
> in the drive and clicking on "install". That's why I'm looking for a
> really easy solution...

You can do this through a batch file that is invoked by the autorun
script, FWIW.  All this has been discussed in the "cygwin on CD" threads,
and should be in the archives.  You might need to use Google as your
search engine, though.

> >>  The reason I'm asking is that I'm distributing some (free) software
> >>  of mine which requires at least some UNIX administration skills to
> >>  install (MySQL, Apache, DBI, Perl, etc.).
> >>  However, many potential users 1) don't have these skills and 2) run
> >>  Windows rather than UNIX. If it were possible to send them a DVD with
> >>  a complete installation, things would become a lot easier for
> >>  everybody involved... ;-)
> >
> >Oh, I see.  This is a different question altogether.  You might be better
> >off creating a custom setup.ini and having people use Cygwin setup to
> >install things.  See <http://cygwin.com/setup.html>.  You can put
> >everything you need in the "Base" category, so all your users will have to
> >do is click "Next" a few times.  Search the archives for something like
> >"cygwin on CD" for other caveats.  BTW, setup will create the mounts for
> >you, so you don't have to worry about that.
>
> I'll check this out - thanks. But will such a custom setup.ini be
> able to cover all my configuration needs? I'll try...

That and the postinstall scripts should be enough.

> >Don't forget to also include the sources for the Cygwin tools as required
> >by the GPL (also your tools, if you link them against Cygwin).
>
> Yes, thanks for the reminder.
>
> >Oh, and people will probably not look too kindly on something just wiping
> >out and replacing their Cygwin installation (if they have one).  Setup
> >should be able to recognize when an existing installation is in place, and
> >only upgrade the packages that need upgrading.  You may want to verify
> >that your tools work with the latest version of Cygwin available from the
> >mirrors, so that users can leave their existing installation intact.
> >	Igor
>
> Sure - but these people won't have a cygwin folder. ;-) If they had
> one, they could manage to install the software themselves, I'm
> sure...

Yes, as long as you give them an option of manual install, rather than
automatically replacing their existing installation from an autorun script
as soon as they insert the CD.

> I provide a detailed description of what to do under different flavours
> of UNIX, but many people simply won't handle such a thing.
>
> Best,
> Sebastian

Another thing you will find out if you haven't already is that people in
general rarely read the instructions, and often blame the maintainer
afterwards... ;-)
	Igor
-- 
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