Re: please update the supported Cygwin package list to be distinct for 32-bit, 64-bit or both; and help on how install both in a merged fashion

[Warren Young <warren at etr-usa dot com>]

On 7/26/2013 23:44, marco atzeri wrote:
> Il 7/27/2013 7:17 AM, Kenneth Wolcott ha scritto:
> >    I guess I will somehow modify my PATH so that I have
> > /cygdrive/c/cygwin64/usr/bin and /cygdrive/c/cygwin32/usr/bin
>
> mixing will not work as the dll's are called in the same way

Just to emphasize: if both 32- and 64-bit Cygwin bin dirs are in your 
PATH at the same time, you will get complaints in the terminal window 
every time you try to run a 32-bit Cygwin program while in a 64-bit 
mintty shell, or vice versa.

The most likely reason this will happen is that the package set in both 
Cygwins isn't the same.

This could be fixed, but it wouldn't be trivial:

1. Rename the 64-bit cygwin1.dll; say, cygwin2.dll.  (It's not that wild 
an idea.  The ABI *is* different between 32- and 64-bit versions.)

2. Teach setup.exe how to install packages of both bitnesses at the same 
time.  You'd end up with something like many Linuxes: /bin and /bin64, 
/lib and /lib64.

3. Teach cygport how to build and configure both bitnesses at the same 
time.  This is nontrivial in itself.

Having done all that, you still don't end up with a completely 
integrated pair of Cygwins, since they aren't going to have any shared 
in-memory data structures.  (Separate cygheaps.)  You couldn't pass a 
file handle from a 32-bit Cygwin program to a 64-bit Cygwin program, for 
example.

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple