[ruby-talk:4876] Windows installation issues, etc.

I've followed this thread with interest. Here are some comments:

1. I do think that cygwin1.dll should be packaged with the Ruby
installation. It was a significant pain for me to find it on the web.
In the end, I had to use the site's search engine, because I 
couldn't find it by navigating.

2. However, I think there are licensing issues -- if I remember 
right, the source has to be included along with the DLL. A nuisance
from our perspective, and increasing the code bloat.

3. It seems that some people want multiple kinds of installation, and 
some want only one. Another possibility is a compromise -- let the 
archive contain "everything" (with "everything" to be defined later),
but let the stuff be selectable at installation time in true Windows
fashion. The disadvantage is the size of the archive; the advantage 
is that there is a single install, not multiple ones, and there is the
flexibility of not installing things you don't want.

4. Another idea: At the risk of complicating things too much, have a
"bootstrappable" install that can do an update over the net. Did someone
mention this already?

5. Finally, I'm not bashing Windows -- not today, anyway -- but let's provide 
a similar level of functionality for Linux and others.

Hal Fulton