Cygwin

Cygwin
Original author(s)Steve Chamberlain, Cygnus Solutions
Developer(s)Cygnus Solutions, Red Hat, Cygwin project volunteers
Initial releaseOctober 18, 1995 (1995-10-18)
Stable release
3.5.3[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 3 April 2024 (3 April 2024)
Repository
Written inC/C++
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
TypePOSIX standard utilities, POSIX standard library, C standard library, compatibility layer
LicenseGPLv3, LGPLv3[2]
Websitecygwin.com Edit this on Wikidata

Cygwin (/ˈsɪɡwɪn/ SIG-win)[3] is a free and open-source Unix-like environment and command-line interface for Microsoft Windows. The project also provides a software repository containing many open-source packages. Cygwin allows source code for Unix-like operating systems to be compiled and run on Windows. Cygwin provides native integration of Windows-based applications.[4]

The terminal emulator Mintty is the default command-line interface provided to interact with the environment.[5] The Cygwin installation directory layout mimics the root file system of Unix-like systems, with directories such as /bin, /home, /etc, /usr, and /var.

Cygwin is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3.[6] It was originally developed by Cygnus Solutions,[7][8] which was later acquired by Red Hat (now part of IBM), to port the Linux toolchain to Win32, including the GNU Compiler Suite. Rather than rewrite the tools to use the Win32 runtime environment, Cygwin implemented a POSIX-compatible environment in the form of a DLL.[9]

The brand motto is "Get that Linux feeling – on Windows".[10]

  1. ^ "cygwin 3.5.3-1". April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
  2. ^ "Cygwin Licensing Terms". Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  3. ^ Hall, Larry (September 14, 2004). "Re: How do you pronounce it?". Cygwin (Mailing list). Archived from the original on August 30, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
  4. ^ "Cygwin FAQ". cygwin.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  5. ^ "Cygwin". www.cygwin.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  6. ^ "Cygwin library now available under GNU Lesser General Public License". Red Hat. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  7. ^ "A brief history of the Cygwin project". Cygwin. February 2, 2018. Archived from the original on January 8, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  8. ^ "Cygwin32: A Free Win32 Porting Layer for UNIX Applications". USENIX. August 3, 1998. Archived from the original on January 11, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  9. ^ "(Solved) Linux Subsystem vs Cygwin vs MobaXterm". Tech Help Forum by How-To Geek. January 24, 2017. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  10. ^ "Cygwin". www.cygwin.com. Retrieved March 11, 2024.

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