Why choose bin vs src for Cygwin packages?

Question

Why might one choose bin instead of src for Cygwin packages? And vice versa?

Wind

I've never seen Cygwin ask you for that information (via setup.exe anyway). Is this a tool your building into cygwin? If so, please provide details on that tool. – Conventicle

When I run setup.exe, it asks me what packages I'd like to install. As I expand the various packages, there are two boxes next to each packages labeled: "bin", and "src". This isn't a tool as far as I know....just downloading packages to allow Cygwin to talk to some of my programs such as idle, git, postgresql, etc. I can provide a screenshot if you'd like. – Wind

Answer 1

By default you install the bin version, the final executable. If you are doing development work you can also install the source files so you can modify and update the tools and contribute to Cygwin directly.

Conventicle