INTRO(3) Cygwin INTRO(3)NAMEintro - Introduction to the Cygwin API
DESCRIPTION
Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two
parts:
A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing
substantial Linux API functionality. This page describes the API pro‐
vided by the DLL.
A collection of tools which provide Linux look and feel. This environ‐
ment is described in the intro(1) man page.
AVAILABILITY
Cygwin is developed by volunteers collaborating over the Internet. It
is distributed through the website http://cygwin.com. The website has
extensive documentation, including FAQ, User's Guide, and API Refer‐
ence. It should be considered the authoritative source of information.
The source code, relased under the GNU General Public License, Version
2, is also availalbe from the website or one of the mirrors.
COMPATIBILITY
Cygwin policy is to attempt to adhere to POSIX/SUSv2 (Portable Operat‐
ing System Interface for UNIX / The Single UNIX Specification, Version
2) where possible.
SUSv2 is available online at:
http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908799/
For compatibility information about specific functions, see the API
Reference at:
http://cygwin.com/cygwin-api/cygwin-api.html
Where these standards are ambiguous, Cygwin tries to mimic Linux. How‐
ever, Cygwin uses newlib instead of glibc as its C Library, available
at:
http://sources.redhat.com/newlib/
Keep in mind that there are many underlying differences between UNIX
and Win32 (for example, a case-insensitive file system), making com‐
plete compatibility an ongoing challenge.
REPORTING BUGS
If you find a bug in Cygwin, please read
http://cygwin.com/bugs.html
and follow the instructions for reporting found there. If you are able
to track down the source of the bug and can provide a fix, there are
instructions for contributing patches at:
http://cygwin.com/contrib.html
COPYRIGHT
Cygwin is Copyright (C) 1995-2010 Red Hat, Inc.
Cygwin is Free software; for complete licensing information, refer to:
http://cygwin.com/licensing.html
SEE ALSOintro(1)
April 2010 INTRO(3)