INTRO(3)

NAME
intro - Introduction to the Cygwin API

DESCRIPTION
Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two parts: A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing substantial Linux API functionality. This page describes the API provided by the DLL. A collection of tools which provide Linux look and feel. This environment is described in the intro(1) man page.

AVAILABILITY
Cygwin is developed by volunteers collaborating over the Internet. It is distributed through the website http://cygwin.com. The website has extensive documentation, including FAQ, User's Guide, and API Reference. It should be considered the authoritative source of information. The source code, relased under the GNU General Public License, Version 2, is also availalbe from the website or one of the mirrors.

COMPATIBILITY
Cygwin policy is to attempt to adhere to POSIX/SUSv2 (Portable Operating System Interface for UNIX / The Single UNIX Specification, Version 2) where possible. SUSv2 is available online at: http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908799/ For compatibility information about specific functions, see the API Reference at: http://cygwin.com/cygwin-api/cygwin-api.html Where these standards are ambiguous, Cygwin tries to mimic Linux. However, Cygwin uses newlib instead of glibc as its C Library, available at: http://sources.redhat.com/newlib/ Keep in mind that there are many underlying differences between UNIX and Win32 (for example, a case-insensitive file system), making complete compatibility an ongoing challenge.

REPORTING BUGS
If you find a bug in Cygwin, please read http://cygwin.com/bugs.html and follow the instructions for reporting found there. If you are able to track down the source of the bug and can provide a fix, there are instructions for contributing patches at: http://cygwin.com/contrib.html

COPYRIGHT
Cygwin is Copyright (C) 1995-2010 Red Hat, Inc.

Cygwin is Free software; for complete licensing information, refer to: http://cygwin.com/licensing.html

SEE ALSO
intro(1)