Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2011 09:49:50 -0400
From: Christopher Faylor <cgf-use-the-mailinglist-please AT cygwin DOT com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: cygwin started speaking German today
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On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 01:44:44PM +0200, Thorsten Kampe wrote:
>* Corinna Vinschen (Fri, 9 Sep 2011 17:09:04 +0200)
>> It is not at all the task of libintl to override the underlying OS,
>> and in the case of Cygwin, the underlying OS is Cygwin, not Windows.
>
>Pardon me?
>"Cygwin is: 
>a collection of tools which provide a Linux look and feel environment
>for Windows.
>
>a DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API layer providing
>substantial Linux API functionality."
>
>Cygwin does not have any user account management, no file system, no 
>file system permissions, etc. So when did Cygwin become an operating 
>system in an operating system?

Corinna, and most of the rest of us, know full well that Cygwin is not a
real OS but that was obviously not her point.  I believe that Corinna's
point was that Cygwin distributed packages should not normally call
Windows functions.

The project's goal is to provide something that looks like UNIX to the
end-user.  That includes providing functions like open() which provide
the feel of a UNIX filesystem and functions like getpwnam() which allow
you to query user accounts.  Cygwin programs are supposed to use open()
to read files and getpw*() functions to access account information.
Ditto for rest of the UNIX api.

Yes, open() is not accessing a real-honest-to-god Cygwin filesystem and
getpwnam() is only accessing a copy of Windows account information but
WE ALL KNOW THAT.  Cygwin is emulating an OS.  That is a given.  I
assume that Corinna assumed that no one would be so pedantic as to send
email to hundreds of people to pick nits about her use of the term "OS"
in this context.  You really don't seem to have a point beyond being
disagreeably picky.

cgf

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