Re: [ot] making stuff

[Robert A Duff <bobduff@shell01.TheWorld.com>]

dewar@gnat.com (Robert Dewar) writes:

> That's a bit incomprehensible. Cygwin is Free Software. You can either
> provide a copy of Cygwin, or, probably more sensibly, point to where
> people can get it.  If you are in a non-hobbyist environment, where
> people need to use supported software, you can obtain supported
> versions of Cygwin from Redhat.

True.  I recommend everybody install Cygwin.  (Or better yet, Linux.)

But I suspect that if you require people to install extra stuff in order
to use your program, some people will be less likely to bother.

On the other hand, perhaps we're talking only about programmers here
(since we're talking about distributing make files to them), and
programmers shouldn't have trouble installing cygwin.  So I guess you're
right -- the best bet is to distribute unix-ish make files, and require
users to have cygwin.

> Requiring people to obtain cygwin is no different from requiring them
> to acquire any other software they may require. After all you are
> requiring your recipients to get Windows if you are providing a
> windows compatible version.

I wish that were true.  I wish cygwin, and Emacs, and GNAT, and lots of
other good stuff came pre-installed on the PC I bought last month!  ;-)

- Bob