Cygwin install howto

A friend wants to work with us on a git project but is Trapped In Windows right now. He does have a cywgin install, and I was hoping to find a cygwin install howto. Alas, I couldn't find any (is there one and Google doesn't know about it?).

Now, I am a bit at a loss, as I don't have access to windows. So for you cygwin knights in the woods, a few questions...

 - What cygwin packages are needed?
 - Makefile tweaks?
 - How do I install for personal use?
 - How do I install in /usr/local?
 - Anything else I should know?

I'll be more than happy to shape the replies in a nice wiki page... (Mercurial has one already http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/index.cgi/WindowsInstall )

cheers,

martin

Martin Langhoff, Thu, Sep 07, 2006 07:19:26 +0200:

Perl, python, rcs (for merge), diff-utils, tcl/tk for gitk (no, X support is not needed. Tcl/Tk is not fully cygwin, if at all).

I disabled installation of repository templates. You can't use them in Windows anyway (except under specific, rarely reached conditions).

Installation works as usual, just remember using cygwin path in prefix. Cygpath (cygpath -w or cygpath -u) can be useful.

Disable x-attribute in every repository. It never works. Case insensitivity of all Windows filesystems breaks things often. Restrict characters in filenames - no special symbols (like ?, : or *). It is painfully slow on large repos (many files). It is very slow on large files. Try to avoid interrupting (Ctrl-C) - it breaks cygwin. Ask me again if your friend has to use ActiveState Perl - it is a long story to make perl scripts in git work with that piece of sh.t.

In general - use the OS very careful, it is not designed to be useful.