Using Linux on Windows with Cygwin
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The Cygwin environment lets you run Linux applications on a Windows system.
If you're locked into Windows, but you don't want to give up your favorite Linux/Unix tools, the Cygwin project [1] offers a trusted and time-honored option. Cygwin, which has been around since 1995, is a Windows run-time environment that supports many Linux programs. You can even compile your Linux and Unix source code for the Cygwin Windows environment.
According to the project website, Cygwin is
- a large collection of GNU and open source tools that provides functionality similar to a Linux distribution on Windows, and
- a DLL (
cywin.dll) that provides substantial POSIX API functionality.
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