> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Charles Wilson > Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 3:06 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: RFC: update-alternatives > > It seems there may be a need for a Debian-like > update-alternatives system on cygwin (see the recent thread > on the main list about making /bin/sh be bash instead of > ash). Also, such a system would be a better approach than my > cobbled-together postinstall scripts for the many new > versions of automake (ditto libpng). [snip]
On the symlinks issue: Suppose instead of the current shortcut hybrid scheme, and also instead of copying the executables, and also instead of using NT-only hardlinks (which IIUC aren't Unixoid enough to be "drop-ins" anyway), "Somebody" wrote a "symlink.exe" executable that worked sort of like this: - A suitable centralized alternatives database would be kept somewhere, with entries of a "/bin/ls == /bin/alternatives/actual-ls.exe" nature. - The "symlink.exe" program would be a one-pager that you copied, under the "assumed name" of the exe you're trying to symlink. So, as the /bin/ls.exe executable, it would: - See that it was executed with the name "/bin/ls.exe" - Look up "/bin/ls.exe" in the database to find which real executable it should run. - spawn() that real executable. That would solve the "can't run it from a windows command line" problem, wouldn't it? -- Gary R. Van Sickle
