From: Wilson Bilkovich <wilsonb@...>
Date: 2006-10-25T03:15:23+09:00
Subject: Re: How do I tell when I'm on Cygwin?

On 10/24/06, ara.t.howard@noaa.gov <ara.t.howard@noaa.gov> wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Oct 2006, James Edward Gray II wrote:
>
> > HighLine has some code like this:
> >
> >  begin
> >    require "Win32API"
> >
> >    if # I'm looking for the line that goes right here (see below).
> >      raise LoadError, "On Cygwin, not pure Windows."
> >    end
> >
> >    # assume we're on Windows here...
> >  rescue LoadError
> >    # assume we're on a Posix OS here...
> >  end
> >
> > The problem is that Cygwin is using the Windows code and the Posix code would
> > be a better choice there.  What's a test I can use to detect Cygwin in this
> > scenario?
> >
> > James Edward Gray II
>
>    posix = Process.fork{} and Process.wait rescue nil
>

Everyone, please remember that Ara is kidding about this. Please do
not let this become an idiom.
The fact that the Win32 version of Ruby doesn't support fork is a
temporary and unfortunate implementation detail, not something you can
rely on.