[clue-talk] Re: Linux auto-install DB and other stuff

[Matt Gushee]

Greg Knaddison wrote:
> On 1/23/06, Matt Gushee <matt at gushee.net> wrote:

>> He said experimentation ... implying, I think, programming and compiling
>> various things, maybe thinking in terms of the GNU tool chain. So, sure,
>> there's Cygwin and MinGW, and they are certainly not impractical, but
>> they're not exactly easy either. And if you want to use 3rd-party
>> libraries, you have to install them manually, since Windows doesn't have
>> package management as we know it.
>>
> 
> If you want to do programming/compiling and cannot figure out the
> related requirements in Cygwin's net-installer, you have more problems
> than whatever OS you are on.

"Cannot figure out" is rather simplistic, don't you think? My point 
about Cygwin (which may be different from Rex's point) was not so much 
about whether it can or can't be done as whether it is an effective use 
of one's time given the alternatives. My experience when I tried to use 
Cygwin in the past was that, while installing packages was easy, dealing 
with paths and finding resources outside of the Cygwin tree (and 
sometimes within it) was a constant PITA. Another problem is that in 
order to *use* an application developed with Cygwin, you have to have 
Cygwin installed. So if you are trying to develop applications that 
non-technical people can easily install and use, Cygwin is not an option.

If I had the need or strong desire to master Cygwin, (which I suppose 
would entail somebody paying me to do it), I certainly would. Since 
that's not the case, I would much rather (a) use Python or Java or some 
other language that doesn't depend on GNU tools, or (b) just not bother 
with Windows at all.

-- 
Matt Gushee
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