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From: Chris Faylor <cgf AT cygnus DOT com>
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 20:19:26 -0500
To: Mumit Khan <khan AT nanotech DOT wisc DOT edu>
Cc: cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com
Subject: Re: cygwin PATH reorg?
Message-ID: <19991119201926.A19418@cygnus.com>
Mail-Followup-To: Mumit Khan <khan AT nanotech DOT wisc DOT edu>,
	cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com
References: <19991119122047 DOT B32163 AT cygnus DOT com> <199911192247 DOT QAA07188 AT mercury DOT xraylith DOT wisc DOT edu>
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In-Reply-To: <199911192247.QAA07188@mercury.xraylith.wisc.edu>; from khan@nanotech.wisc.edu on Fri, Nov 19, 1999 at 04:47:15PM -0600

On Fri, Nov 19, 1999 at 04:47:15PM -0600, Mumit Khan wrote:
>Geoffrey Noer <noer AT cygnus DOT com> writes:
>> 
>> This doesn't sound like a good idea to me.  Somewhat hidden cleverness
>> is really dangerous.  Could better documentation possibly accomplish
>> the same goals?  Dunno, but I would think that would be preferable.
>
>I'm not sure what you mean adding /bin to the PATH automagically. I,
>as a user, don't care as long as my PATH does not change after the
>shell evaluates my startup files (.profile, etc). If you can add /bin
>as the first element to the PATH variable before it gets to my startup
>file, it sounds like a good idea.

I was thinking of 1) scanning the user's path, looking for something
that looks like it's a cygwin /bin, putting it at the beginning if found,
or 2) if 1) fails try to find /bin using various heuristics and add
it to the beginning of the path.

>I'm in favor of the Unix'y login approach -- setup a default bare 
>environment, and then let the actual user startup take care of the 
>rest. This bare environment setup process can put /bin, however it is 
>found, before the rest of the User's existing PATH (done via Windows/DOS);
>then .bashrc/.profile does the rest.
>
>I'd think /bin should be easy to find. Have the installer add a registry 
>entry that says where it was installed (it's already there in a way), and 
>use that to find /bin.

I was thinking of suggesting this but I was foresaw the plaintive wails
when a user makes a "minor change" of moving his /bin after setup and
finds that his cygwin utilities no longer work.

cgf