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diff --git a/winsup/doc/effectively.sgml b/winsup/doc/effectively.sgml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..d6c2d9ad9 --- /dev/null +++ b/winsup/doc/effectively.sgml @@ -0,0 +1,207 @@ +<sect1 id="using-effectively"> +<title>Using Cygwin effectively with Windows</title> + +<para> +Cygwin is not a full operating system, and so must rely on Windows for +accomplishing some tasks. For example, Cygwin provides a POSIX view +of the Windows filesystem, but does not provide filesystem drivers of +its own. Therefore part of using Cygwin effectively is learning to use +Windows effectively. +Many Windows utilities provide a good way to interact with Cygwin's +predominately command-line environment. For example, +<command>ipconfig.exe</command> provides information about network +configuration, and <command>net.exe</command> views and configures +network file and printer resources. Most of these tools +support the <literal>/?</literal> switch to display usage information. +</para> + +<para> +Unfortunately, no standard set of tools included with all versions of +Windows exists. If you are unfamiliar with the tools available +on your system, here is a general guide. Windows 95, 98, and ME have +very limited command-line configuration tools. Windows NT 4.0 has much +better coverage, which Windows 2000 and XP expanded. +Microsoft also provides free downloads for Windows NT 4.0 (the Resource Kit +Support Tools), Windows 2000 (the Resource Kit Tools), and XP (the +Windows Support Tools). Additionally, many independent sites such as +<ulink URL="http://download.com.com">download.com</ulink>, +<ulink URL="http://simtel.net">simtel.net</ulink>, +and <ulink URL="http://sysinternals.com">sysinternals.com</ulink> +provide command-line utilities. A few Windows tools, such as +<command>find.exe</command> and <command>sort.exe</command>, +may conflict with the Cygwin versions; make sure that you use the full +path (<command>/usr/bin/find</command>) or that your Cygwin +<literal>bin</literal> directory comes first in your <EnVar>PATH</EnVar>. +</para> + +<sect2> <title>Pathnames</title> + +<para> +Windows programs do not understand POSIX pathnames, so any arguments +that reference the filesystem must be in Windows (or DOS) format or +translated. Cygwin provides the <command>cygpath</command> utility for +converting between Windows and POSIX paths. A complete description of its +options and examples of its usage are in <Xref Linkend="cygpath">, +including a shell script for starting Windows Explorer in any directory. +The same format works for most Windows programs, for example +<screen> +<literal>notepad.exe "$(cygpath -aw "Desktop/Phone Numbers.txt")"</literal> +</screen> +A few programs require a Windows-style, semicolon-delimited path list, +which <command>cygpath</command> can translate from a POSIX path with the +<literal>-p</literal> option. For example, a Java compilation from +<command>bash</command> might look like this: +<screen> +<literal>javac -cp "$(cygpath -pw "$CLASSPATH")" hello.java</literal> +</screen> +Since using quoting and subshells is somewhat awkward, it is often +preferable to use <command>cygpath</command> in shell scripts. +</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2> <title>Console Programs</title> +<para> +Another issue is receiving output from or giving input to the console-based +Windows programs. Unfortunately, interacting with Windows console +applications is not a simple matter of using a translation utility. Windows +console applications and designed to run under <command>command.com</command> +or <command>cmd.exe</command>, and some do not deal gracefully with other +situations. Cygwin can receive console input only if it +is also running in a console (DOS box) since Windows does not provide +any way to attach to the backend of the console device. Another +traditional Unix input/output method, ptys (pseudo-terminals), are +supported by Cygwin but not entirely by Windows. The basic problem is +that a Cygwin pty is a pipe and some Windows applications do not like +having their input or output redirected to pipes. +</para> + +<para> +To help deal with these issues, Cygwin supports customizable levels of +Windows verses Unix compatibility behavior. To be most compatible with +Windows programs, use a DOS prompt, running only the occasional Cygwin +command or script. Next would be to run <command>bash</command> with +the default DOS box. To make Cygwin more Unix compatible in this case, +set <EnVar>CYGWIN=tty</EnVar> (see <Xref Linkend="using-cygwinenv">). +Alternatively, the optional <command>rxvt</command> package provides +a native-Windows version of the popular X11 terminal emulator (it is not +necessary to set <EnVar>CYGWIN=tty</EnVar> with <command>rxvt</command>). +Using <command>rxvt.exe</command> provides the most Unix-like environment, +but expect some compatibility problems with Windows programs. +</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2> <title>Cygwin and Windows Networking</title> +<para> +Many popular Cygwin packages, such as <command>ncftp</command>, +<command>lynx</command>, and <command>wget</command>, require a +network connection. Since Cygwin relies on Windows for connectivity, +if one of these tools is not working as expected you may need to +troubleshoot using Windows tools. The first test is to see if you +can reach the URL's host with <command>ping.exe</command>, one of the +few utilities included with every Windows version since Windows 95. +If you chose to install the inetutils package, you may have both +Windows and Cygwin versions of utilities such as <command>ftp</command> +and <command>telnet</command>. If you are having problems using one +of these programs, see if the alternate one works as expected. +</para> + +<para> +There are a variety of other programs available for specific situations. +If your system does not have an always-on network connection, you +may be interested in <command>rasdial.exe</command> (or alternatives for +Windows 95, 98, and ME) for automating dialup connections. +Users who frequently change their network +configuration can script these changes with <command>netsh.exe</command> +(Windows 2000 and XP). For proxy users, the open source +<ulink URL="http://apserver.sourceforge.net"> +NTLM Authorization Proxy Server</ulink> or the no-charge +<ulink URL="http://www.hummingbird.com/products/nc/socks/index.html"> +Hummingbird SOCKS Proxy</ulink> may allow you to use Cygwin network +programs in your environment. +</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2><title>The cygutils package</title> + +<para> +The optional cygutils package contains miscellaneous tools that are +small enough to not require their own package. It is not included in a +default Cygwin install; select it from the Utils category in +<command>setup.exe</command>. Several of the cygutils tools are useful +for interacting with Windows. +</para> + +<para> +One of the hassles of Unix-Windows interoperability is the different line +endings on text files. As mentioned in <Xref Linkend="using-textbinary">, +Unix tools such as <command>tr</command> can convert between CRLF and LF +endings, but cygutils provides several dedicated programs: +<command>conv</command>, <command>d2u</command>, <command>dos2unix</command>, +<command>u2d</command>, and <command>unix2dos</command>. Use the +<literal>--help</literal> switch for usage information. +</para> + +<sect2><title>Creating shortcuts with cygutils</title> +<para> +Another problem area is between Unix-style links, which link one file +to another, and Microsoft .lnk files, which provide a shortcut to a +file. They seem similar at first glance but, in reality, are fairly +different. By default, Cygwin uses a mechanism that creates symbolic +links that are compatible with standard Microsoft .lnk files. However, +they do not include much of the information that is available in a +standard Microsoft shortcut, such as the working directory, an icon, +etc. The cygutils package includes a <command>mkshortcut</command> +utility for creating standard Microsoft .lnk files. +</para> + +<para> +If Cygwin handled these native shortcuts like any other symlink, +you could not archive Microsoft .lnk files into <command>tar</command> +archives and keep all the information in them. After unpacking, +these shortcuts would have lost all the extra information and would +be no different than standard Cygwin symlinks. Therefore these two types +of links are treated differently. Unfortunately, this means that the +usual Unix way of creating and using symlinks does not work with +Windows shortcuts. +</para> +</sect2> + +<sect2><title>Printing with cygutils</title> +<para> +There are several options for printing from Cygwin, including the +<command>lpr</command> found in cygutils (not to be confused with the +native Windows <command>lpr.exe</command>). The easiest way to use cygutils' +<command>lpr</command> is to specify a default device name in the +<EnVar>PRINTER</EnVar> environment variable. You may also specify a device +on the command line with the <literal>-d</literal> or <literal>-P</literal> +options, which will override the environment variable setting. +</para> + +<para> +A device name +may be a UNC path (<literal>\\server_name\printer_name</literal>), a reserved +DOS device name (<literal>prn</literal>, <literal>lpt1</literal>), or a +local port name that is mapped to a printer share. Note that forward slashes +may be used in a UNC path (<literal>//server_name/printer_name</literal>), +which is helpful when using <command>lpr</command> from a shell that uses +the backslash as an escape character. +</para> + +<para> +<command>lpr</command> sends raw data to the printer; no formatting is done. +Many, but not all, printers accept plain text as input. If your printer +supports PostScript, packages such as +<command>a2ps</command> and <command>enscript</command> can prepare text +files for printing. The ghostscript package also provides some translation +from PostScript to various native printer languages. Additionally, a native +Windows application for printing PostScript, <command>gsprint</command>, is +available from the <ulink URL="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/">Ghostscript +website</ulink>. +</para> + +</sect2> + +</sect1> |