[barrkel]

Cygwin doesn't rot. It doesn't automatically update, and nor does it self-configure, so there's nothing to cause the rot. I've never had problems like you describe.

The biggest problem - and what I suspect is happening to you - is when you have third-party programs and utilities that interfere with Cygwin, most often by putting an older or newer version of cygwin1.dll on the $PATH (i.e. you may be using Cygwin as part of some other program and not be aware of it). Cygwin uses shared memory; multiple versions of cygwin1.dll disagree on the format of this shared memory, and things go pear-shaped pretty quickly from there.

Also some antivirus programs can trip up Cygwin; in its emulation, it sometimes has cause to open, close then open files in quick succession, but AV programs sometimes analyse files when they are opened by programs, and cause bogus timing-dependent sharing errors.

[msluyter]

I love Cygwin, but I have experienced what I would describe as rot. (manifested via errors on fork()). I think that's caused by things changing around it, via windows dll updates, but I don't have a lot of insight into windows' dll handling and whatnot so I don't know for sure. Also pretty sure installing new cygwin packages can cause this. Usually, rebaseall fixes such problems.

In any event, I much prefer Cygwin to the alternatives.

[EvilTerran]

"there's nothing to cause the rot"

The rot tends to set in as I install packages to Cygwin; the more I add, the slower and less stable Cygwin seems to become, to the point of taking tens of seconds to reach a prompt after opening. Make of that what you will.

"Also some antivirus programs can trip up Cygwin"

That could well be a contributing factor in my case.

[cygx]

Did you try disabling bash completion[1]?

[1] http://cfc.kizzx2.com/index.php/tag/cygwin-slow-performance-...

[EvilTerran]

No, I didn't -- good spot, thank you.

I haven't bothered re-installing cygwin since the last nuke-and-pave, but I'll bear that in mind if I do and it's still relevant.