Re: git 0.99.7b doesn't build on Cygwin

>
>
> On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Davide Libenzi wrote:
>>
>> If you have only to run diff/patch, just use the native Win32 CreateProcess().
>> You abstract that on a git_exec(), and you use fork/exec on Unix and
>> CreateProcess() on Winblows. If fork() is slow on Cygwin, fork+exec is
>> pathetic. They do all that work to give you a fork(), and you throw it
>> away with an exec().
>
> CreateProcess doesn't work all that well, since we want to dup file
> descriptors around and close them in the child.

> In general, CreateProcess() is a totally crap interface. I realize it's
> common (and especially in the VMS/Windows world it's how things are done),
> but hey, at that point it's better if somebody just waits until git is
> stable, and just makes a totally separate "git for windows" thing. The
> interfaces are certainly simple. There's no point in trying to maintain
> one tree.
>
> However, vfork() really _is_ a nice interface. It's faster even on UNIX,
> and at least in theory it should be possible to do an efficient vfork()
> implementation on top of crap like windows. Does cygwin support that well?
>
> Yes, git uses lots of filesystem stuff, and they suck under windows. Maybe
> cygwin adds its own overhead, but from everything I've ever been able to
> tell, filesystem access sucks under Windows regardless of any cygwin
> stuff. Add to an already slow FS interface the fact that virus checkers
> tend to hook into it and make it _even_slower_, and hey, you have a truly
> sucky OS.