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Thanks to cygwin I have a great terminal (bash mintty) for years. Why is cygwin so unpopular? I know, sometimes it's too slow but besides that I don't underst

Thanks to cygwin I have a great terminal (bash mintty) for years. Why is cygwin so unpopular? I know, sometimes it's too slow but besides that I don't understand the aversion I encountered.

Someone1234 7y ago
> Why is cygwin so unpopular? It is a very leaky abstraction. Instead of just running Linux on Windows, they instead opted to half-compile binaries and then require a bunch of Windows specific configuration changes as a direct result. The whole goal of Cygwin is where the problem starts: It is a POSIX layer for Windows that happens to reproduce Linux APIs. So now you aren't using it like Linux, or Windows, since it is neither and it is both. Devil's advocate: Cygwin made a lot of sense with less powerful hardware since it is more efficient. But with the benefit of 2019 hardware there's no need to settle, and instead you can just run a full Linux kernel alongside Windows and get "good enough" results to be productive.
- jackewiehose 7y ago
  Half-recompiled binaries? They don't compile from source? > It is a POSIX layer for Windows that happens to reproduce Linux APIs. So now you aren't using it like Linux, or Windows, since it is neither and it is both. I don't know what you mean by "using it like linux or windows". The reason I'm using cygwin is that I can use windows-desktop (rudimentary) like I use linux-desktop. With a lot of GNU-Tools and a proper terminal emulator.
  - Someone1234 7y ago
    Cygwin executables are compiled to Windows binary (PE) format but target POSIX and UNIX kernel APIs. In other words they're half Windows and half UNIX, and can run on neither natively. That means configuration files and some tools need to specifically target Cygwin and often source code needs specific changes/patches/flags to be compiled into Cygwin's compatible format. Nobody said Cygwin didn't work. I am just explaining to you why it is unpopular and why it is a leaky abstraction.
    - jackewiehose 7y ago
      > Cygwin executables are compiled to Windows binary (PE) format but target POSIX and UNIX kernel APIs. In other words they're half Windows and half UNIX, and can run on neither natively. I don't think those are the right words. It's compiled to native windows binaries so it runs natively. The difference (I know of) between a "normal" Windows-EXE file and one from cygwin is, the latter is linked to cygwin.dll.

Thanks to cygwin I have a great terminal (bash mintty) for years. Why is cygwin so unpopular? I know, sometimes it's too slow but besides that I don't understand the aversion I encountered.

Someone1234 7y ago

> Why is cygwin so unpopular? It is a very leaky abstraction. Instead of just running Linux on Windows, they instead opted to half-compile binaries and then require a bunch of Windows specific configuration changes as a direct result. The whole goal of Cygwin is where the problem starts: It is a POSIX layer for Windows that happens to reproduce Linux APIs. So now you aren't using it like Linux, or Windows, since it is neither and it is both. Devil's advocate: Cygwin made a lot of sense with less powerful hardware since it is more efficient. But with the benefit of 2019 hardware there's no need to settle, and instead you can just run a full Linux kernel alongside Windows and get "good enough" results to be productive.

jackewiehose 7y ago
Half-recompiled binaries? They don't compile from source? > It is a POSIX layer for Windows that happens to reproduce Linux APIs. So now you aren't using it like Linux, or Windows, since it is neither and it is both. I don't know what you mean by "using it like linux or windows". The reason I'm using cygwin is that I can use windows-desktop (rudimentary) like I use linux-desktop. With a lot of GNU-Tools and a proper terminal emulator.
- Someone1234 7y ago
  Cygwin executables are compiled to Windows binary (PE) format but target POSIX and UNIX kernel APIs. In other words they're half Windows and half UNIX, and can run on neither natively. That means configuration files and some tools need to specifically target Cygwin and often source code needs specific changes/patches/flags to be compiled into Cygwin's compatible format. Nobody said Cygwin didn't work. I am just explaining to you why it is unpopular and why it is a leaky abstraction.
  - jackewiehose 7y ago
    > Cygwin executables are compiled to Windows binary (PE) format but target POSIX and UNIX kernel APIs. In other words they're half Windows and half UNIX, and can run on neither natively. I don't think those are the right words. It's compiled to native windows binaries so it runs natively. The difference (I know of) between a "normal" Windows-EXE file and one from cygwin is, the latter is linked to cygwin.dll.