Cygwin forum?

Has anyone found a forum where Cygwin users ask and answer questions?

There are thousands of forums like this one on the internet (though some may argue, none quite as good), but I have not found even one where there is a forum to discuss Cygwin, the Linux-like environment that makes Windows tolerable.

Being forced as I am to use Windows in my new job, I find that I am relying heavily on Cygwin to maintain my sanity. I am running into small problems that others may have solved, but I have no forum to ask questions. There is an email list, but I don't like those. I want a forum.

Is there one?

mailing lists:

http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/
http://cygwin.com/lists.html

This is all I've seen.

Hey there,

I think you can petition for one on this board. I'd be glad to sign. Cygwin is different enough from other Linux distro's that it should have it's own board. I've had to admin both and the Cygwin and RedHat linux are often different (for instance: banner -c CHAR is available in Cygwin, but not RedHat, OpenBSD 4.x (which only has a -w WIDTH switch) or even Solaris - only one small example )

Best wishes,

, Mike

Count me in.
i find cygwin incredibly addictive.

I have lots of cygwin questions as well as lots of cygwin answers and I would really prefer having a new sub forum here at LQ vs. using a mailing list (much less effective than a forum) or finding a forum elsewhere.

I know cygwin is a bit outside the main scope of LQ, but it isn't that far outside and there is a lot of overlapping interest, so count me among those asking for a cygwin sub forum.

What about MINGW. Personally, I think there would be so many either overlapping cygwin/MINGW questions or compare/contrast cygwin/MINGW questions that I would prefer to see one cygwin/MINGW forum rather than either two subforums or skipping mingw entirely. Of course cygwin is more important, so I hope asking this mingw question doesn't fragment the drive toward a cygwin forum.

I am delighted to see your interest!

Therefore I just posted a note to Jeremy, our fearless leader, asking him to give us a forum.

If you are interested, you could happen on over there to that thread and second the motion.

I have reported that thread for closure as I am about to move this one over there. See http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...distro-513876/ for the main reasons why there is not a forum for every distro and what you can do about it. That said, Cygwin has always been an uanomaly here: because it runs on Windows, the General forum has always been it's home - basically it has more to do with Windows than Linux. Also, threads about Cygwin have always been very few and far between - only around 130 threads total this year.

The reason there isn't a lot of Cygwin traffic is because users cast about looking for a forum to post there questions on.

We just don't fit in any Windows forum site. And you are suggesting we don't fit in a Linux forum site. See? We have no home.

But many of the solutions to Cygwin problems have to do with things like which X server to run and what your .inputrc or .bashrc files contain. These are Linux-type things.

BTW, I'm certainly not advocating the use of Cygwin on Windows instead of Linux. Oh, no! May it never be. But I find myself working in a Windows company and Cygwin is my only connection to sanity.

Because Vygwin works on Windows we have always used General as the home for the questions. That said, if you have contacts within the Cygwin team and they are prepared to provide support for the forum (as in people to answer questions rather than any other sort) I am sure Jeremy would be happy to discuss the possibility with them.

I love Cygwin. I've used Cygwin/X to replace our commercial X server, as well as it being really useful if you're stuck on Windows. A decent Cygwin forum would be very useful, here or elsewhere.

Personally, I think of General as a place for OT random BS, as evidenced by the fact that posts there don't count toward our post counts.

OTOH, while Cygwin is not Linux, it is "a Unix-like environment" for serious work in what some of us consider an otherwise hostile environment.

It is also an ideal tool for introducing the power of the *nix CLI to folks who might never get to use it except for Cygwin. Even if a its prospective sub-forum got beginner questions that might otherwise belong elsewhere, there could be a great benefit to having them answered by people used to the unique challenges of the mixed (Unix on M$) environment.

BTW, why are we assuming that Cygwin has to be considered a distro, requiring official team support to have a sub-forum?

Originally Posted by archtoad6 why are we assuming that Cygwin has to be considered a distro, requiring official team support to have a sub-forum?

Because the section reads "Linux Distributions", because the only distribution has the authority to decide to have their primary forum here and else because our fearless leader ordained it so?

Originally Posted by unSpawn Because the section reads "Linux Distributions"

So we would expect a Cygwin subforum wouldn't go there at all. It is certainly not Linux.

I think it would be a tough call whether Cygwin would best fit in "Other *nix" or "Non *nix". I certainly wouldn't care which of those it was in.

Are there special rules for sub forums there?

Originally Posted by archtoad6 while Cygwin is not Linux, it is "a Unix-like environment" for serious work in what some of us consider an otherwise hostile environment.

well said!

Originally Posted by johnsfine I think it would be a tough call whether Cygwin would best fit in "Other *nix" or "Non *nix". (..) Are there special rules for sub forums there?

I doubt that's a tough call: AFAIK BSD's can be defined as "kernel+userland shipped by one single vendor" (as opposed to the userland grab bag GNU/Linux essentially is) and as far as I know Cygwin at its base it relies on OSS, right? Sure you could think of posting in "/Other *NIX Forums/Other *NIX/" but I doubt the official development group would advertise Cygwin as being one of the "UNIX platforms"...