Mail Archives: cygwin/2003/05/16/08:12:45
On Thu, 15 May 2003, Christopher Faylor wrote:
> On Thu, May 15, 2003 at 11:16:26AM -0400, Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc.) wrote:
> >Ronald Landheer-Cieslak wrote:
> >>In light of the two questions on this subject in as many (or less)
> >>days, I thought I'd search the FAQ for the answer to "Why doesn't this
> >>(very common) command work?" and didn't find it there, so I thought
> >>I'd offer a text.
> >>
> >>It's basically the same text I wrote in
> >>http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2003-05/msg00897.html, but slightlt
> >>generalized..
> >>
> >>Why doesn't this (very common) command work?
> >>(or: Why doesn't patch work?")
> >>--------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>While the Cygwin Net distribution contains many packages, not all of
> >>them are installed by default. Many programs, including some very
> >>common ones (like "patch", "ls", "tar", "gzip", etc.), have to be
> >>installed before they can be used.
> >>
> >>You can use the search engine at http://cygwin.com/packages/ to look
> >>which package you need for the "patch" utility, and then use
> >>http://cygwin.com/setup.exe to install the appropriate package.
> >
> >I certainly have no problem with this entry but I think I should point
> >out that it serves a similar purpose to:
> >
> >What packages should I download?
> ><http://cygwin.com/faq/faq_toc.html#TOC13>
> >
> >Perhaps these two should be merged. Also, it may make sense to mention
> >the directory/file name collisions as a corner case that can cause
> >problems even if the utility in question is installed.
>
> There are also similar words on the cygwin web page itself *in bold*.
> I don't think adding another entry to the FAQ is going to accomplish
> much.
Though I agree with both of you - there are already many words about this
- either people are not reading them (very likely) or don't understand
them (also likely).
I.e.: to get to http://cygwin.com/faq/faq_toc.html#TOC13 you must first
understand that one or more packages might be missing - so it's not the
place you'll look first (I think) and the wording on the main page, though
accurate, doesn't say where to find whatever's missing from the base
installation (link to package search).
That, and it's a lot easier to answer a frequently asked question with an
FAQ entry ;)
But hey, you're the chief ;)
rlc
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