“While the rapidly increasing popularity of Linux has Windows
users asking “But will I be able to run my Windows software in
Linux?”, we sometimes forget that there is another side to that
question. Seasoned UNIX and Linux users know that working on a
Windows platform (as they sometimes must in the workplace) means
giving up the power afforded by the tools they must leave behind
every time they boot Windows.”
“Enter Cygwin, formerly from Cygnus solutions, now from Red Hat
Software. Cygnus, as some of you may know, was recently acquired by
Red Hat Software. Cygwin is a collection of GNU tools ported to
Windows (95, 98, NT) using the Cygwin runtime library.
Furthermore, Cygwin allows a developer to use the standard Win32
API or Cygwin’s runtime (which actually makes more sense – more on
that later). Cygwin comes with the GNUPro gcc compiler,
debugging tools, and more. Best of all, Cygwin brings a little of
what makes UNIX and Linux so great to your Windows
system.”
“One word on the free download vs. the boxed set. The CD-ROM
comes with the Cygwin environment, full source code, and a great
deal of contributed software including Perl, lesstif, xemacs, and
more. It’s not all work, though. In the contrib directory, you’ll
find the classic fortune program and gnuchess as well. It’s a
question of simplicity. You can also find a lot of this software if
you simply visit the Web site and start digging. As with many Open
Source projects, you’ll find a community of people working with and
developing with Cygwin.”