[Mailman-Users] Mailman under Cygwin - won't add list

[Mark Sapiro]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

>>>>>> "Ben" == Ben Discoe <ben at ahualoa.net> writes:
>
>    Ben> Wow.  I had no idea at all that it was possible to run Apache
>    Ben> _inside_ Cygwin.  The Apache website directs Windows people
>    Ben> to just install and run, so the alternate route is not well
>    Ben> known.
>
>You might want to just take a look at the list of stuff that Cygwin's
>setup.exe supports.  I imagine Apache (some version) is on the list.


Absolutely. I run Cygwin Apache 1.3.29, and 1.3.33 and 2.0.54 are also
available. As I said earlier, this is only for testing and only
accessible locally. I don't think I'd want to run any MS-Windows
server exposed to the world, Cygwin or native.


>    >> Maybe the solution is to run Apache under Cygwin or run a
>    >> mailman only version of Apache under Cygwin that listens on a
>    >> different port.
>
>    Ben> Arrgh, it's hard to imagine that moving _closer_ to Cygwin is
>    Ben> the right direction, when all the trouble seems to stem from
>    Ben> Cygwin itself.
>
>No, the trouble stems from mixing different models of security and
>other OS services.  While Cygwin is a big PIMA, too, there's no doubt
>in my mind that people who are using Cygwin for one app are better off
>using it for apps that cooperate with the first, too.  I do know of a
>few exceptions, but they are all out-and-out bugs in the helper
>applications.


I totally agree with Stephen here.

I'm surprised that Windows Apache can even execute the Cygwin compiled
cgi-bin wrappers and Python at all. If I try to run a Cygwin compiled
and linked program of any sort from a Windows command shell or even
directly from Start->run, I get a fatal error dialog "The procedure
entry point __getreent could not be located in the dynamic link
library cygwin1.dll." Anyway, that part seems to work in your case,
surprising or not.

As Stephen says, mixing different security/protection models in one
system is asking for trouble. Mailman is designed to run in a POSIX
compliant or similar environment. Cygwin has its problems, but it is
the closest thing to that environment that exists on Windows. Further,
the only successful (albeit, perhaps limited) installations of Mailman
on windows that we know of are under Cygwin.

It may be possible to get Mailman to run in a Windows environment
without Cygwin, and it may be valuable to you (Ben) and to others, but
you're on your own in uncharted waters.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <msapiro at value.net>       The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan