msysgit/doc/msys/MSYS_VS_CYGWIN

File:		     MSYS_VS_CYGWIN
Copyright (C):	     2001: Earnie Boyd  <earnie@users.sf.net>
Distribution Rights: See MSYS_LICENSE
File Revision:	     1.0.4
File Revision Date:  2002.01.25

mount:	The mount command is only used to display all mount points.  The mount
points for the very important are automounted.  Nothing is stored in the Win32
registry database.  If you wish to add other mount points, ones that aren't
auto mounted, then you may do so in the /etc/fstab file.  i

ROOTPATH "/": The "/" auto mount point is currently a reference to the parent
directory of the directory containing the msys-1.0.dll file.  
<strikeout>In later releases
the / will be a reference to a pseudo device that points to the mount points.
I.E. in a later release it is planned that `ls /' will list the mount points.
</strikeout>  I plan to do something but it won't be as previously stated.

/bin: The /bin auto mount point is a reference to the directory containing the
msys-1.0.dll file.  I.E. if the path to msys-1.0.dll is
C:\msys\1.0\bin\msys-1.0.dll then /bin resolves to C:\msys\1.0\bin.

/tmp: The /tmp auto mount point is a reference to the directory that is
referenced by the Win32 TMP environment variable.  I.E. if the win32 TMP
environment variable value is C:\TEMP then the /tmp mount point resolves to
C:\TEMP.

/usr: The /usr auto mount point is a reference to the parent directory of the
directory containing the msys-1.0.dll file.  I.E. if the path to msys-1.0.dll
is C:\msys\1.0\bin\msys-1.0.dll then the /usr mount point resolves to
C:\msys\1.0.

/cygdrive:  There is no such item.  All devices and mapped shares are auto
mounted with the device letter as the mount point.  E.G.: the C:\ drive is
referenced as /c.

/etc/fstab:  If this file exists then it is read for user specified mount
points.  The form of the record is [PHYSICAL PATH][WHITE SPACE][MOUNT POINT]
where [WHITE SPACE] is one or more spaces and/or tabs.

binary vs text:  File processing mode is set to binary.  This is not changeable.
I had originally planned to set this to text mode processing but ran into
various problems of which volumes have been written in the Cygwin archives.
For release 1.0 of MSYS this means that you cannot have \r\n line endings on
text files.  In a future release it is planned to "Do The Right Thing" and
predetermine the type of file being opened and set text or binary processing
as appropriate for reading files.  Or, predetermine the type of file and as the
file is being read remove the \r from the end of the line.

uname -s:  The default system name is returned as MSYS_NT-4.0, if you're on
NT 4.0.  However you could export MSYSTEM=MINGW32 as change the returned value
for `uname -s' to MINGW32_NT-4.0.  This is done to aid the use of MSYS with
MinGW and configuration scripts will determine that it is a MINGW32 build
system.

--added in version 1.0.2--
/bin and /usr/bin:  These are currently reserved for MSYS programs only (MSYS
programs are progrms that depend on the msys-1.0.dll file).  It will be unlikely
that non-MSYS programs will execute properly if they exist in /bin and /usr/bin.

POSIX paths in arguments:  POSIX paths passed as arguments on the command line
are now converted to WIN32 paths.  This is only true for programs that don't
exist in the /bin and /usr/bin paths.  POSIX paths are determined by i) a '/'
character in the argument and ii) the argument must not be two characters long.
The two character filter is done so that WIN32 parameters of the type /x can be
passed to the WIN32 program.  This allows you to do `write /p /mydocuments/abc'
and the write.exe program found in the c:\WINNT\System32 directory on my
system can print to the printer on lpt1 the c:\msys\1.0\mydocments\abc file.

--added in version 1.0.3--
More robust checking for filesystem paths on arguments.

--added in version 1.0.4--
Symlink resolution.
diff, diff3 and head to the distribution.
--removed in version 1.0.4--
Requirement that the path must begin with /.
bash from the distribution.