See comments inline Andrey Repin wrote at about 21:11:55 +0300 on Friday, December 27, 2019: > Greetings, Jeff! > > > Based on the documentation and practical use of the Windows-style > > symlinks (winsymlinks) vs Cygwin-style symlinks, it seems to me that: > > 1. Winsymlinks have the advantage of working as symlinks/shortcuts > > under both Cygwin and Windows Explorer while Cygwin links are > > recognized only in Cygwin > > True. > > > 2. They both are basically text files with some MAGIC numbers and > > attributes that allow them to be interpreted as symlinks > > NOT true. > Windows native symlinks are actual FS objects. CYGWIN=winsymlinks is the same as CYGWIN=winsymlinks:lnk This corresponds to Windows-style links, not native Windows symlinks. You are referring to CYGWIN=winsymlinks:native or CYGWIN=winsymlinks:nativestrict which refers to the true FS object symlinks
> > > So, is there any *disadvantage* to always using Winsymlinks and indeed > > converting my old Cygwin-style links to Windows-style? > > You can't create native symlinks as a member of Administrators group, even if > your account have the needed privilege. Again note the distinction between winsymlinks and winsymlinks:native > > > (Note: I can't use Windows Native symlinks because I don't have admin > > privileges on all my machines) > > Exactly. > > > Finally, where is the best place to set CYGWIN=winsymlinks? > > In .bash_profile? > > If you can't use them, there's no reason to set this option, if you expect > interoperability between Windows and Cygwin. Again note the distinction between winsymlinks and winsymlinks:native I was referring winsymlinks (or more pedantically winsymlinks:lnk) > With just winsymlinks set, Cygwin will try to create native symlink, > but failing that, it will create regular Cygwin symlink. > > With winsymlinks:nativestrict set, Cygwin will try to create native symlink > and report failure instead of creating Cygwin symlink. > > P.S. > I'm using winsymlinks:nativestrict personally, but I know implications and > well prepared to deal with them. > > > -- > With best regards, > Andrey Repin > Friday, December 27, 2019 21:04:24 > > Sorry for my terrible english... > -- Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/ Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple