From b255aece5044e2a3144ef6f14c049b54d9eb27b9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Corinna Vinschen Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:23:32 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] * new-features.sgml (ov-new1.7.12): Create. Move mountinfo here. Add /dev notice. * pathnames.sgml (pathnames-posixdevices): Rephrase to account for /dev change in 1.7.12. --- winsup/doc/ChangeLog | 7 +++++++ winsup/doc/new-features.sgml | 21 +++++++++++++++++---- winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml | 28 +++++++++++++++++----------- 3 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-) diff --git a/winsup/doc/ChangeLog b/winsup/doc/ChangeLog index e19de178d..ab58c5cd9 100644 --- a/winsup/doc/ChangeLog +++ b/winsup/doc/ChangeLog @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ +2012-03-27 Corinna Vinschen + + * new-features.sgml (ov-new1.7.12): Create. Move mountinfo here. + Add /dev notice. + * pathnames.sgml (pathnames-posixdevices): Rephrase to account for + /dev change in 1.7.12. + 2012-03-27 Corinna Vinschen * new-features.sgml (ov-new1.7.11): Add mountinfo. diff --git a/winsup/doc/new-features.sgml b/winsup/doc/new-features.sgml index 534b3f9f6..a5216f8a8 100644 --- a/winsup/doc/new-features.sgml +++ b/winsup/doc/new-features.sgml @@ -1,5 +1,22 @@ What's new and what changed in Cygwin 1.7 +What's new and what changed from 1.7.11 to 1.7.12 + + + + +Cygwin now automatically populates the /dev directory with all existing +POSIX devices. + + + +Add virtual /proc/PID/mountinfo file. + + + + + + What's new and what changed from 1.7.10 to 1.7.11 @@ -18,10 +35,6 @@ creating the cygdrive directory. If Windows claims the drive is unavailable, don't show it in the cygdrive directory listing. - -Add virtual /proc/PID/mountinfo file. - - Raise default stacksize of pthreads from 512K to 1 Meg. It can still be changed using the pthread_attr_setstacksize call. diff --git a/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml b/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml index 5506eeb36..e2a031581 100644 --- a/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml +++ b/winsup/doc/pathnames.sgml @@ -689,19 +689,25 @@ Read on for more information. POSIX devices -There is no need to create a POSIX /dev -directory as Cygwin automatically simulates it internally. -These devices cannot be seen with the command ls /dev/ -although commands such as ls /dev/tty work fine. -If you want to be able to see all well-known devices in -/dev/, you can use Igor Pechtchanski's -create_devices.sh -script. This script does not add the raw disk devices, though. Again, -it's not necessary to see an existing device in /dev to access it. The script -is just for the fun of it. +While there is no need to create a POSIX /dev +directory, the directory is automatically created as part of a Cygwin +installation. It's existence is often a prerequisit to run certain +applications which create symbolic links, fifos, or UNIX sockets in +/dev. Also, the directories /dev/shm +and /dev/mqueue are required to exist to use named POSIX +semaphores, shared memory, and message queues, so a system without a real +/dev directory is functionally crippled. +Apart from that, Cygwin automatically simulates POSIX devices +internally. Up to Cygwin 1.7.11, these devices couldn't be seen with the +command ls /dev/ although commands such as +ls /dev/tty worked fine. Starting with Cygwin 1.7.12, +the /dev directory is automagically populated with +existing POSIX devices by Cygwin in a way comparable with a +udev based virtual +/dev directory under Linux. + Cygwin supports the following character devices commonly found on POSIX systems: