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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
by Someone1234 8y 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 8y 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.