• A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a UNIX emulation layer providing substantial UNIX API functionality.
• A collection of tools, ported from UNIX, which provide UNIX/Linux look and feel.

The Cygwin DLL works with all non-beta versions of Windows since Windows 95, with the exception of Windows CE.

This is a list of some of the most useful tools included in CygWin:

• xterm - a terminal emulator
• bash - a windows shell much better than command.com
• ssh - secure shell
• cvs - software revision system
• joe - a wordstar-like editor usable in xterm
• mutt - a text-based mail client that supports IMAP
• lynx - a text-based web browser
• perl - a programming language much in use on the web
• gcc - the GNU C++ compiler
• make - a tool for managing software projects of multiple files
• grep - search files for strings and regular expressions
• Apache - if no longer the world's most popular web server, certainly the best
• ghostscript - a postscript emulator for reading and making EPS and PDF files
• whois - check domain registry information
• ... and much, much more

There is also an experimental port of the XFree86 Xwindows server.

The following programs can also be compiled with support for CygWin

• sitecopy - hassle-free syncing of websites via ftp
• screen - multiple sessions in a single shell
• WindowMaker^? - an Xwindows window manager

See http://www.cygwin.com/ for more info.

-- GeirAalberg - 23 Feb 2002