I am having issues with finding all of the necessary files to actually install Cygwin correctly when not using the premade setup utility. The reason behind this is the fact that my company computer blocks the usage of the .exe, and won't give me clearance to install it, (they say it isn't needed for the job) but expects me to perform certain tasks that Cygwin would make much simpler.
So my question is thus; is there somewhere/someone that would have a list of packages that I would need to manually install from one of the mirrors to make Cygwin run correctly?
Well,
This is a new answer to an old question, but it might be helpful for someone...
Just run the installer with -B switch, for example:
setup-x86_64.exe -B
You should install it then on a path where you have rights.
If you don't need the full POSIX compatibility (which I'm guessing you don't, if the Unix subsystem isn't required for your job), I'd generally suggest you go with Mingw rather than Cygwin.
Sadly, Mingw also has an installer these days. It probably also requires admin (try it and see). However, you can download the individual components you need if you want to do it that way. That shouldn't require admin, so it would probably get you exactly what you want.
Mingw is also more corporate-friendly from a licensing standpoint, as its compiler doesn't render code built with it GPL like Cygwin's does.
Generally the rule is:
If you want to use Unixy tools to help with your native Windows development, you want Mingw.
If want to port a full (POSIX) Unix program to windows, you want Cygwin (and perhaps a support deal with Red Hat to get around the licensing problem).
There's a writeup on getting Cygwin [to work] on portable storage devices.
Boiling it down, you'd have to do this on a machine that does give you .exe/admin access to write to a 'stick, then run from the stick at work.
On the off-chance that super-lockdown-site allows you to run USB devices.
Use the GNUWIN32 utilities instead. http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/
That way you can choose only the .exe installs that you need, and it will be much easier to justify specific utilities than a humongous system install. If you hunt around on the site you can find the files directory where you can download a single utility, and if you get the -bin.zip version, then you can extract just the needed .exe file which would be even easier to justify and would not require your IT people to test an untrusted install package.
Stupid draconian rules or no, I would not recommend trying to thwart your employers rules. Try working to improve the situation or find another one.
But technically speaking if you can get a complete Cygwin install somewhere, you can copy the entire cygwin folder enmasse. There are a few things that you will want to change similarly to how I configured my cygwin installation to run from a thumb drive. I actually installed on my HD, copied it to the thumbdrive and then changed the batch file and a few other things to make it work. Here are the details: http://fadedbluesky.com/2011/portable-cygwin/
You could try installing it on another machine outside of work. After installing, copy the installed product's tree and Registry keys and environment settings to a CD or flash drive. Then you would have a DIY installation that you can copy and import settings manually. The installer doesn't do a whole lot else.
Don't count on job security if you're bypassing IT mandates after being explicitly told no, though. Getting an exception to the rule by submitting proper documentation through the proper process is usually the way to go.
You'll also have to hope that they aren't blocking the Cygwin programs and any Registry edits as well. It's not hard to find this sort of thing on a machine, either.
Related
I am trying to build and deploy a gaia build from git repo in Windows. I am trying to deploy it in অ Flame.
I am trying to do it in a windows 7 with cygwin installed. After installing everything this is the error I am getting
This works just fine in a Linux machine, but I need to do this in Windows since right now I have access to it only.
Any pointers to what I am doing wrong here?
I'm afraid it's not going to work without significant effort for several reasons. Much better to use a VM with Linux on as even if it did work it will be really slow. Windows is slow at handling lots of file access and Cygwin slows it down even more.
For example in making a simple change to config.sh (full stack build) so it works on Cygwin I found it took hours to run (on a decent PC). And then I had a couple of corrupt git repos I had to hand fix.
I also looked at getting gaia's make to work, but stopped after the problem just got bigger.
Here's what I found for future reference
The build is not really portable, it expects a linux like environment
While cygwin gives good linux emulation most of the tools run are win32 native and handling path conversion for them requires not trivial changes due to assumptions. For example you can switch to the Win32 XPCshell and hack the command line paths to use cygpath, but environment variable are an extra source of dependency in the JS scripts and are all unix paths. ( I did manage this part).
these path and environment dependencies get magnified with the C build chain and other tools.
You need to change the mount to use noacl or else cygwin attaches ACLs to simulate file properties, thus breaking things. It's might even be a little faster without ACLS
I also tried MinGW which provides native versions without the emulation so should be faster. However it falls short of the requirements and its automatic path conversion heuristics get in the way.
you need to turn of any antivirus prog as they slow it down. in fact the very first time I used the old FIrefox WIndows build it would crash after a long time. Turned out to be a mem leak in the AV :(
So all-in-all it's too much hassle in terms of dev time to convert and probably maintain. A true Windows build would be better but then it's so easy these days to run a VM. You can even share directories between the guest and host so could flash from Windows.
I also tried with cygwin, but was unable to build the gaia source code on windows.
It's not straightforward to build the gaia source code on windows. Please follow these steps:-
Download Mozilla Build from MozillaBuild - Mozilla Wiki and install the tools in c:/mozilla-build (preferred). It includes everything (make, wget, python etc) you need to build gaia source code.
Run start-shell.bat. If build process failed with this batch file then run start-shell-msvc2013.bat if you have Visual Studio 2013 or start-shell-msvc2015.bat if you have Visual Studio 2015. (You need Visual Studio for the second step).
Browse to the gaia source code directory using the command cd Mozilla/gaia.
Run DEVICE_DEBUG=1 make command. Don't run DEVICE=1 make or make command (because you won't be able to debug the apps, I was able to connect to the Firefox OS 2.2 but was not able to debug the apps when I ran these commands).
If you are running this command for the first time, it will download the b2g_sdk otherwise it will create a folder profile with your custom profile.
Open the WEBIDE using Firefox (Nightly preferred) and point to the profile folder you just created.
Links for your reference:-
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Developing_Gaia
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Developing_Gaia/Different_ways_to_run_Gaia
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/WebIDE/Troubleshooting
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Developing_Gaia/Making_Gaia_code_changes
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Developer_guide/Build_Instructions/Windows_Prerequisites
I have standard instalations of some programs, and althou they are freeware and i can download them and install on any machine, things are not that easy always. When system crash and i dont have working machine or working internet connection or lan card or drivers for lan card i always struggle to find them and make them work if some dependency file is not on that version of windows.
What i need is to know is how can i make applications portable so i can run them from my usb or just copy them from my usb on pc and run, what dependency files application require, and what files and where specific application install?
It's a complicated story but let's try to summarize. Starts from the part "why?"
I'm an obsessive guy who seriously "hates" installers. I love to have a clean system without bloated in files reg entries and DLL's. Thats why I make nearly all (at least 97%) of programs that I use portable. I made more than 600 up to today and what I can say is;
You need:
1- A program to watch file system (what included after installation)
I use this. Simple and straight (sorry not freeware, but you can find tons of alternates)
http://www.samsunsegman.com/um/
2- A program to watch registry (what changed or included after installation)
I use this in HTML mode. Free fast and simple. And portable in nature.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/regshot/
Now scan the system with these 2, and than run the installer. After open the installed program and make your settings as you want. And than use this 2 program to find the added files and registry entries.
For files, delete them to trash can and take them back from trash in batch (easy to do like that) to the folder of application.
Registry, open the related branches in registry, delete any entries containing addressings like (plugins folder = c:\prog.... etc) After right click on main branch and select export. This is your reg settings...
3- Download this program http://ctuser.net/?reg2exe
This will convert your reg file to an exe file.
4- Download this application http://download.cnet.com/FilePacker/3000-2216_4-10414081.html
Note: Click on "Direct Download Link" if not you'll cnet will welcome you with their installer :)
And with this program (I use this because have no interference with any application) pack the program that you want to make portable. In wizard, first choose your reg-exe file after main programs file. Launcher will execute them with this order. And in setting choose "delete after terminate" will delete the extracted files on exit.
You can discover the further details. This helps you to portabilitize nearly 75% of simple applications.
5- For complicated programs or complicated needs you even can make home made loaders like
Before executing the app, put the user files under appdata folder (that I hate)
Put settings in registry (even with dynamically modified "path" addresses)
Choose which to execute (x86 or x64)
Execute in admin mode if needed
Execute the app... And when application is terminated...
Delete the settings from registry
Take the user files from appdata folder and put under programs folder (usb etc) back.
Delete left-over files under the system...
I just wrote these last ones to make you understand how far you can go. And for all these extra tricks, I use just and just bat files. And I convert them to exe also with this software. http://www.f2ko.de/programs.php?lang=en&pid=b2e (also free)
All the softwares that I use except "uninstall manager" are free. And with this technique, amazing but some of programs are running even faster.
Actually you can just use JauntePE or portable apps packer things but... Jaunte and similar sandbox making programs are so slow and not compatible with all. Even causing crashes. Portable apps approach is a bit bloated regarding to my strict spped and size standards. That's why I do it myself about for 10 years (yes even people was not talking about portability)
Note: I'm not a programmer, and you also don't need to be to do these.
I never released my portables, and you also shouldn't (read EULA's) for respect to authors.
But never forget to demand portable version from all authors. Force them to quit installers ;)
Best regards
inovasyon did a great job!
If you want to make some portable app that will work on every computer you move it to, then 99.9% of apps can be made portable.
If you also expect the app to not leave any files, folders or registry entries behind and not change or break things on the host PC's setup, then that limits things a bit further.
Apps requiring admin privileges to write to protected areas of the registry or file system will break when used on PCs with locked-down privileges.
Apps requiring services to be installed on the host PC will often leave them behind.
You must to know there are apps that are locked to specific PCs - Microsoft's recent versions of Office are a great example of this. They simply will not run when moved to another PC.
Also, you'll need some tools for making portable app: cameyo, thinapp, boxedapp, portableapps, spoon, app-v and other.
Portable applications will run from a flash drive, and from the computer.
Good Luck!
Here is a primer for setting up a portable app using the PortableApps.com tools. They have a page for developers that is quite helpful for some specifics, but the overall process is not well summarized. Here is the general outline for creating a portable application:
1. Investigate your application's footprints
Find all the files, registry locations and settings of the application you want to make portable (make use of point (1) and (2) in inovasyon's answer, and maybe take a look at Zsoft). It is usally a good idea to fire-up a virtual machine and track the application's changes without much clutter.
2. The PortableApp generator
Download, extract, and open the PortableApps.com Platform, and follow [The system tray icon] →[Apps] →[Get More Apps] →[By Category] to install the PortableApps.com Launcher, and NSIS (Unicode) needed to Portabilize your app. Alternatively, but with some added hassle, download both the PortableApps.com Launcher and NSIS Portable (Unicode version) as standalones.
You can now compile a project by running the PortableApps.com Launcher and pointing it to your project.
3. PortableApp layout and structure
Download the PortableApp.com Application Template (search for it here) to structure the data and files obtained in (1.) according to the specifications. Also, download some apps from portableapps.com for some practical examples of how they are structured, and to learn more about the struggles of portability (such as the substitution of drive letters in settings files to correspond to the movement of a portable drive).
As a "Hello World" example, try portability this simple program: helloworld.bat, with content:
#echo off
echo Hello World > log.txt
It writes all local environmental variables to the log file log.txt. You can play around a bit by trying to writing files to an %APPDATA% subdirectory and see if you can make your project redirect it to a portable directory.
4. Additional usage
If you need to do some additional coding that is not achievable with the default .ini capabilities (such as forcing only one instance of an app), add a NSIS script with file location App\AppInfo\Launcher\Custom.nsh to your project. Note that PortableApps.com's custom code guide incorrectly states the file location as Other\Source\Custom.nsh. It is also quite unhelpful regarding the layout of this script. Rather look at examples from other Apps and learn the NSIS syntax by Google-ing a bit.
I have to start using CVS at my new company so that I can play nicely with the developers who are all *nix users. I happen to be a Windows Vista user and unfortunately do not have the ability to switch anytime soon. I am also not exactly a command line guru yet, so any simplified method is ideal for me.
I discovered TortoiseCVS today and it seems pretty straight forward, even though it says it is not directly supported on Vista, which worries me a little.
My questions:
Do you use CVS on Windows (Vista)?
What method do you use? (Tortoise CVS? Another option?)
Does your method get along well with repositories setup on/by *nix machines?
Any other advice for the noob? (Thanks)
I know many people who required a gentle introduction to cvs and ended up using WinCVS with no real difficulty. I know many others who are using the cvs client in Eclipse. This usage includes projects which are not otherwise managed by Eclipse. As for myself, I stick to the command-line myself because I feel the lack of GUI abstractions helps me to always understand exactly what CVS is doing. All three solutions work well on Vista, 32 and 64 bit. Our shop uses Mac, Linux, Solaris, and Windows, with the server on a Linux machine, and we never have any problems with compatibility.
There's one issue you should be aware of regardless of your choice of cvs client for cross-platform goodness, though. Most cvs clients convert between Unix newlines (on the server) and Windows newlines (on the client) by default. You should understand that this conversion is happening and be aware of the consequences.
This conversion will cause real problems if you try to commit a file with Unix newlines. So, you need to avoid, for example, copying files from a Unix repository to your Windows box, editing them, and committing them unless you've done the newline conversion. We had some real problems with this in my shop, and I instituted a strict policy that people should only communicate files between machines by committing them to CVS. Never, for example, by email, shared network directories, etc.
If your CVS repository has any binary files, some may not have been properly tagged as binary files. In *nix-only shop, nobody would notice, as the binary flag won't affect most binary files. But in a cross-platform shop, the binary flag routinely affects how cvs treats files, since it will disable any attempts at newline conversion. Typically, any file which was committed from a Unix box will be correctly represented in the repository, so you can fix the problem on the Windows end by merely changing the tag and re-updating. I.e.,
cvs admin -kb file
cvs update -A file
There are some other avenues you can take to interact with your *nix bretheren.
Install VirtualBox and a distribution of Linux so you can natively run the same toolset.
Install VirtualBox and a copy of Windows XP, which is known to work with TortoiseCVS.
You can find VMWare appliances pre-loaded with a linux distribution, which you can import into VMWare Player or VirtualBox. From there you just need to connect up to your shared drive the same way that they do.
Please note that CVS is no longer being maintained. You should really be moving to SVN, git, or some other version control system.
If you're using an IDE like Visual Studio or Eclipse, you should look for the appropriate plugin that integrates with your environment. Those might be better supported (though TortoiseCVS is likely just fine, even if the developers don't want to make any claims).
I was reading the post Installation file names in Windows Vista when I thought about Installation File Names. I'm a addicted software downloader, and frequently I've got installation names like "setup.exe" or "install.exe", that says nothing about the program to be installed.
I think that an installation file must be like:
Install[ProgramName][ProgramVersion][Platform].[exe|msi|etc]
or
[ProgramName][ProgramVersion][Platform].Setup.[exe|msi|etc]
What your thoughts?
I much prefer descriptive install file names. Sometimes, you want an emergency 'restore' disk to get a machine up and running even without internet connectivity. When all your installs are named "setup.exe", you either have to rename them all, or create a directory with a descriptive name for each one.
An example of where such a disk would have been really handy was when I took my brand new laptop in to work to use while I upgraded my desktop to Vista 64, and then Windows 7. I only have one wired LAN point, so my laptop needed a wireless connection for internet access, to download my installs. I had to download them all on my desktop, and then transfer by flash drive to my laptop. Very inconvenient.
Not sure this is entirely programming-related... but installer files are usually meant to be transient. You download them, run them, and delete them. (Or at least, I think most people do) So it doesn't matter much what the filename is.
I don't think there's any reason not to give the installer a descriptive name... but I certainly wouldn't say it "must" have one.
For CD-Rom based installation, I'd suggest sticking with SETUP.EXE which helps with autorun detecting software to install from the disk.
For downloadable files, just add the appropriate manifest to the EXE and Vista won't have a problem with it. I'd suggest something semi-descriptive, but there's no need to go into great detail unless it's something like hardware drivers that a person may archive off for reuse, otherwise the file name is confusing to non-technical people.
A colleague of mine agreed to using Subversion (SVN) for our little project, but only if he doesn't have to install it. He has a U3 USB stick where he keeps the project files and he would like the SVN client to live there as well. I tried searching for a non-installable SVN client, but couldn't find anything (although I suspect that many of the available clients would run if just copy-pasted from an installation folder). What can be recommended?
I'd really like to get version control going. It would be best if it had a GUI for merging files too, not just the command line.
Added: The copy-paste from an existing installation is one solution, but I'd like to see first if there perhaps isn't some client that does not require installation by design. If not, I guess RapidSVN is nice enough (although it does leave stuff in Windows registry).
Try RapidSVN. The CollabNet binaries can be used in a similar fashion for command-line support. Yes, these have installers, but you can simply copy the binaries around -- I use Universal Extractor to get the binaries out without having to run the installer.
Also, an enterprising user has packaged RapidSVN as a PortableApp. There is an "installer", but it really just unzips things into a directory of your choice and writes a default configuration file into that directory.
Try Alagazam.net's Subversion Windows Installer. There is also a version with just the binaries without an installer.
I'd go with the copy and paste the bin folder from SlikSVN.
It seems like SlikSVN is the underlying platform behind several graphical SVN clients. In my experience it seems stable and reliable.
Specifically, the bottom link on this page seems to be a non-install/xcopy precompiled package (although I haven't tried this one myself, only inspected it). It does not appear to be the newest, though. You might do your friend a favour by installing the newest SlikSVN on your own computer, and then share the bin files with your codeveloper.
If Java is available on the machines you could use SVNKit.
There's a portable version of SmartSVN which is what I use. It's a pretty good SVN client, but it needs JRE. It has a nice GUI and all.
There is a portable version of RapidSVN here. Just install it to a flash drive.
I was able to use the command line client that I had installed onto a USB stick. I then whipped up a couple batch files that did the basic checkout, checkin stuff, and one batch file that gave me a command prompt with a PATH set.
It doesn't have all the integration of something like TortoiseSVN, but I don't think you would be able to easily do that from a USB stick.
I've had this same problem, and thought it would be easier to find than it is. Bert Huijben posted the solution as a reply to Cecil, but his link was outdated.
http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=8100
Scroll to the bottom where you can grab a ZIP file of the binaries. It works for me.
Alternative two should be pretty sufficient. But both methods requires installing it to the USB device which I guess is similar to just copying onto it. I checked Wikipedia and there are some standalone listed there.
SmartSVN, QSvn (portable version requires install), and Syncro SVN Client (they have versions which requires you to extract and run), etc. But does it copy, and does it run any different than installing to the USB?
Alternative One
Load Cygwin on the USB device, install SVN support and run it off of that. There isn’t any up (which I assume is more than possible) since I've had the luxury of using TortoiseSVN (requires install).
Alternative Two
Install TortoiseSVN on a USB device and use if off of that. It has a GUI interface for merging and diff. This may be relevant to your interest. However, Google has some results indicting they are slow.
Finally, there is an PortableApps version of RapidSVN:
Another alternative which may be acceptable to some users:
The Eclipse IDE is portable (not entirely; it depends on Java). Use the Eclipse SVN plugin (Subversive or Subclipse). This takes care of the daily needs.
You may choose to point to a Java Portable installation to make it truly portable. However, I believe it might be slow to run off a USB pen drive.