[PETSC #18705] PETSc and Cygwin License (POSIX layer)

[Farshid Mossaiby]

Hi all,

I am really glad to hear this. This is exactly what I wished, and told you some time ago.

Just wanted you to know that there is a "Windows Services For Unix (SFU)" add-on for Windows, which is in some way like Cygwin. It is free, and can be downloaded by everyone. It has support for unix paths, too. I really do not like it (even as much as Cygwin), but it can be somewhat useful for you / someone else, if you take a look at it:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/interopmigration/bb380242.aspx

Best regards,
Farshid Mossaiby


--- On Thu, 12/4/08, Lisandro Dalcin <dalcinl at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Lisandro Dalcin <dalcinl at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [PETSC #18705] PETSc and Cygwin License (POSIX layer)
> To: petsc-dev at mcs.anl.gov
> Date: Thursday, December 4, 2008, 10:28 PM
> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:42 PM, Barry Smith
> <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
> >
> >  Make is NOT the problem! (It is just one of several)
> 
> Indeed. However, at some time I'll try to make PETSc
> build with Scons.
> But we need to fix configure first.
> 
> 
> >  Config/configure.py uses the SHELL constantly for
> basically everything. Try
> > running config/configure.py
> > under Windows without using cygwin.
> 
> I tried at home to run it with standard Windows's
> Python and
> MinGW+MSYS, but I had no success up to now (however, I have
> not tried
> hard)
> 
> 
> >
> >> I for one think it should be possible to remove
> 'make' from the
> >> toolchain, leaving us with only win32fe, which we
> distribute. Thus
> >> I think we could abandon cygwin once and for all.
> I would even be
> >> willing to write a \emph{make clone} to
> accomplish this, even though
> >> I am a committed enemy of make (which once
> TP'ed my house).
> >>
> >>   Matt
> >>
> >> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >> From: Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov>
> >> Date: Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 12:00 PM
> >> Subject: Re: [PETSC #18705] PETSc and Cygwin
> License (POSIX layer)
> >> To: Stefan Benkler <benkler at itis.ethz.ch>
> >> Cc: petsc-maint at mcs.anl.gov
> >>
> >>
> >>  Stefan,
> >>
> >>   Here is my understanding of the situation.
> >>
> >>   Conjecture: You CAN use an open source compiler
> (GNU)  to compile
> >> proprietary code and then sell
> >> the binaries without making the proprietary code
> GNU licensed so long as
> >> you just use the
> >> GNU compilers out of the box and don't change
> their source code and don't
> >> include the compliers
> >> libraries in your binaries.
> >>
> >>  IF this is true then you are safe, the Cygwin
> environment is only used by
> >> PETSc to have
> >> a system to compile PETSc. None of it is included
> in the binaries
> >> generated.
> >>
> >>  On the other hand, if my initial conjecture is
> wrong, then there could be
> >> a problem.
> >>
> >>  Barry
> >>
> >> We've tried over the years to use Windows
> "posix" environments to develop
> >> a build system
> >> for PETSc so we don't need cygwin to build
> PETSc. Unfortunately their
> >> stuff is so "un-unix"
> >> like that it just wasn't practical and using
> developers studio to build
> >> PETSc directly is
> >> possible but requires some how getting all the
> PETSc source properly into
> >> developers studio
> >> and as far as I know the only way to do this is
> manually through the gui
> >> which is very painful;
> >> plus if we change something in the Unix build side
> later we'd need to
> >> change it manually
> >> on the developers studio side.
> >>
> >> If the situation has changed and Windows does
> provide a reasonable way to
> >> build large
> >> unix codes I'd love to hear about it and use
> it. We hate cygwin but feel
> >> with have no other
> >> reasonable option.
> >>
> >> On Dec 4, 2008, at 3:33 AM, Stefan Benkler wrote:
> >>
> >> Dear PETSc developers
> >>
> >> Since a while, I successfully use your fantastic
> library on Windows. Thank
> >> you very much!
> >>
> >> Lately, I had a discussion about the involved
> copyrights/licenses with a
> >> colleague. The main point was if PETSc requires
> the POSIX layer of cygwin on
> >> Windows (and therefore would need to fulfill
> cygwin's GPL license).
> >>
> >> My standpoint was that cygwin is just used to
> configure and build the
> >> library, but only native Windows libraries (using
> MS or Intel's Windows
> >> compiler, MKL) are finally linked to the PETSc
> libs. However, I have
> >> difficulties to proof this claim, which is the
> reason for this email.
> >>
> >> Please comment/clarify the licensing on a Windows
> system.
> >>
> >> Thanks a lot for your informations.
> >>
> >> Best regards
> >>
> >>  Stefan Benkler
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> What most experimenters take for granted before
> they begin their
> >> experiments is infinitely more interesting than
> any results to which their
> >> experiments lead.
> >> -- Norbert Wiener
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Lisandro Dalcín
> ---------------
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