[Info-vax] RMS intro

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 1/4/2024 7:34 PM, Dan Cross wrote:
> In article <un75ou$3pjg7$2 at dont-email.me>,
> Arne Vajhøj  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> On 1/3/2024 8:31 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
>>>             "cygwin executes Windows executables that are built
>>> from Unix-y sources using compatibility libraries,
>>
>> Cygwin does not execute executables. Cygwin produces regular
>> Windows executables that are executed by Windows line any other
>> Windows executable.
> 
> Nope.  Cygwin is an _environment_ that exists under Windows,
> along with a user interface, that supports executing Unix-style
> programs.  Yes, there's a toolchain, but Cygwin itself is not
> only a toolchain.  The more important thing, in many ways, is
> the Cygwin DLL that supports cygwin execution.
> 
> You may quibble with the terminology here; it is true that
> technically _windows_ loads and starts those executables running
> and the hardware actually does the execution, but it is saying
> that "cygwin produced regular Windows executables" is so vague
> as to be outright incorrect.

It is precisely correct.

Building with Cygwin toolchain produce an executable that
can run on any Windows system as long as the DLL's it use
are present.

It does not need any Cygwin environment.

>> And as I described above then Cygwin can build both *nix source and
>> Windows source (and hybrids of those) not just *nix sources.
> 
> You seem to be referring to the cygwin toolchain, which is only
> part of cygwin.  See https://cygwin.com/ for more.

But it is a difference between Cygwin and WSL.

Cygwin GCC accepts both Windows and *nix source. WSL GCC accept only
*nix source.

>>>                                  Toolchains are only tangentially
>>> relevant.
>>
>> Toolschains are really the only thing that matters.
> 
> Nope.
> 
>> WSL exist to allow developers to run Linux toolchains.
> 
> No, WSL exists to allow Windows users to run a "Linux
> environment", full-stop, running unmodified Linux-branded
> ELF binaries.  Users can, of course, run a toolchain if they
> wish, but they are not limited to that; believing so is a
> failure of imagination.

Microsoft has clearly stated that it is intended for
developers to build for Linux.

I assume that Microsoft knows why they have created WSL.

Arne