I managed to find a solution to the problems with Bazaar; the problem is that vc-bzr.el launches "bzr" which is a python script; the cygwin version uses a magic shebang line which doesn’t work on windows outside of cygwin. So, firstly, I fixed the problem in vc-bzr.el by making it launch the python executable directly and then pass "bzr" as an argument; I sent this into the Emacs Bug List. I got a reasonable reply from Stefan Monnier suggesting a wrapper script; I kind of agree that it’s a nicer solution (it works with DVC too!), although it still leaves users in the situation of vc-bzr.el not working out of the box.

So I sent a report into the cygwin mailing and got replied with a blank no from the wonderful Christopher Faylor; just use cygwin or it’s "do whatever you like". Meanwhile, off-list, I’ve been soundly castigated by another cygwin mailing list subscriber who has advised me "PCYMTNQREAIYR" and really doesn’t like my quotation style. I never understood speaking with acronyms since I first met it in Perl land; but, hey, TMTOWTDI.

Some wonderful sections of the email conversation include:

him> you can't be bothered to take 15 seconds to look something up, why
him> should I be bothered to talk to you?


I don't know. And yet you are.

Astonishingly, he replied to this. It’s been an entertaining conversation, but I think it’s time for it to finish; I am hoping that this will work.

  him> I also care when you blatantly disregard the accepted practice of a
  him> community, and refuse to listen to members thereof when they try to
  him> tell you you're behaving in a way that is, by their standards,
  him> inconsiderate.

So bug reporting is inconsiderate? For the record, by the standards imposed by
my community, preaching at people is considered rude. I saddened that you
blatantly disregard these standards. But, hey, I'll get over it.


him> A simple "I agree to abide by the list etiquette when posting to the
him> list" would have ended this conversation long ago.


Yes, but then this conversation has been an entertaining diversion from my
otherwise dull and pointless existence which I would have been sad to miss.

I don’t think I’ve ever received such a response for an attempt to publish a bug report. I guess some people need to just get out more; in this case, I mean me, but it’s just about the start of term and that’s not likely to happen.

Originally published on my old blog site.