You are not logged in.

#1 2007-04-23 05:05:29

nv
Member
Registered: 2006-10-24
Posts: 39

Naming of development packages

Hello everyone!

One of the nice things about Arch is the fact that you have most development versions available, which are usually labeled according to the revision control system that is used (foobar-svn, foobar-cvs, foobar-git,...). As this information is not really of any use to the person who installs the package, I suggest to use a common suffix, e.g. -dev, to indicate the status. This would increase the consistency of package naming a lot and would - as a side effect - allow to browse through all development packages easily by searching for '-dev'.

What do you think?

Offline

#2 2007-04-23 05:17:54

dolby
Member
From: 1992
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1,581

Re: Naming of development packages

i prefer the current scheme tbh
after all devel packages are not available on all repos, just unstable and unsupported part of aur


There shouldn't be any reason to learn more editor types than emacs or vi -- mg (1)
[You learn that sarcasm does not often work well in international forums.  That is why we avoid it. -- ewaller (arch linux forum moderator)

Offline

#3 2007-04-23 05:45:10

stonecrest
Member
From: Boulder
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 1,190

Re: Naming of development packages

-dev will be confusing to a lot of users because most distros use foo-dev or foo-devel to indicate that it includes various development files for foo rather than being a the bleeding-edge developmental version of foo.


I am a gated community.

Offline

#4 2007-04-23 07:47:16

lloeki
Member
From: France
Registered: 2007-02-20
Posts: 456
Website

Re: Naming of development packages

-dev will be confusing to a lot of users because most distros use foo-dev or foo-devel to indicate that it includes various development files for foo rather than being a the bleeding-edge developmental version of foo.

totally agreed, -dev suffix is just like diff between jre and jdk.


To know recursion, you must first know recursion.

Offline

#5 2007-04-23 08:00:09

sl
Banned
From: uk
Registered: 2007-04-04
Posts: 42
Website

Re: Naming of development packages

stonecrest wrote:

-dev will be confusing to a lot of users because most distros use foo-dev or foo-devel to indicate that it includes various development files for foo rather than being a the bleeding-edge developmental version of foo.

+1 more ...
also i think -dev* in some cases refer to released (unstable) stuff, like beta versions as it is used now, listen-devel for example ..

Offline

#6 2007-04-23 12:08:07

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: Naming of development packages

I could see myself agreeing that the -svn and -cvs type suffixes aren't the best, however, I can't think of a good alternative.  Also, it does give me a little tidbit of information about the given project I didn't have before.

Offline

#7 2007-04-23 12:39:03

lloeki
Member
From: France
Registered: 2007-02-20
Posts: 456
Website

Re: Naming of development packages

Also, it does give me a little tidbit of information about the given project I didn't have before.

indeed.
plus, it gives information that data will be pulled out straight from a live tree, while -dev could just be a tgz development snapshot.
and it also gives information on the protocol used before actually pulling it. some ports/protocols are filtered by nasty admins, so I just say 'well, it won't go through, I'll try that later' instead of 'oh, f*k it interrupted! let's see, why? *scroll* ah, cvs? oh yeah, it's filtered...' and so much for the stress meter. well, exagerating a bit, but you see the point: it conveys some extra interesting information.
and people bothering with -cvs,-svn,-git builds should know what that means, and by 'means' I mean 'implies', that is it's _live_ dev.

well then, what about a -live suffix wink (J/K)

Last edited by lloeki (2007-04-23 12:39:21)


To know recursion, you must first know recursion.

Offline

#8 2007-04-23 17:51:17

nv
Member
Registered: 2006-10-24
Posts: 39

Re: Naming of development packages

stonecrest wrote:

-dev will be confusing to a lot of users because most distros use foo-dev or foo-devel to indicate that it includes various development files for foo rather than being a the bleeding-edge developmental version of foo.

Yes, you are right, I did not think about that.

Even though I don't really agree that more information is necessarily better (I don't see a real benefit in knowing the type of version control system), I can't think of anything better. -live is misleading as well, at least, it sounds as if one doesn't really install anything (like with a live cd).

So, I guess you convinced me that the current solution is the best one... cool

Offline

#9 2007-04-23 20:32:18

stonecrest
Member
From: Boulder
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 1,190

Re: Naming of development packages

For what it's worth, there was a similar thread about this already:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=25938

Bottom line was, everyone disagrees with each other smile

Last edited by stonecrest (2007-04-23 20:32:29)


I am a gated community.

Offline

#10 2007-04-23 20:36:54

elasticdog
Member
From: Washington, USA
Registered: 2005-05-02
Posts: 995
Website

Re: Naming of development packages

Whew...I'm glad stonecrest hunted down that other thread.  I was having deja vu and wondered if I was just crazy.  I'd stick with the argument that I made in the other thread that it's an unnecessary abstraction to what is already an informative set up suffixes.  Read the rest of that idea on the link stonecrest posted.

Offline

#11 2007-04-23 21:11:55

lloeki
Member
From: France
Registered: 2007-02-20
Posts: 456
Website

Re: Naming of development packages

-live is misleading as well

well, as I mentioned, -live was somehow intended to be a joke wink

and thanks for the thread digging! smile

Last edited by lloeki (2007-04-23 21:12:37)


To know recursion, you must first know recursion.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB