From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Mark H Weaver Subject: Re: 02/02: gnu: Add s. Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:47:34 -0400 Message-ID: <87shjcyhax.fsf@netris.org> References: <20170604144555.7655.18380@vcs0.savannah.gnu.org> <20170604144556.5AFA1206F7@vcs0.savannah.gnu.org> <878tl770ht.fsf@netris.org> <87zidl9ew5.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:55959) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dILOO-0002f6-8n for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:47:58 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dILOL-0007oQ-3X for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:47:56 -0400 Received: from world.peace.net ([50.252.239.5]:33445) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dILOK-0007na-Ud for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:47:53 -0400 In-Reply-To: <87zidl9ew5.fsf@gmail.com> (Alex Kost's message of "Tue, 06 Jun 2017 20:58:50 +0300") List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: Alex Kost Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org Alex Kost writes: > Mark H Weaver (2017-06-04 20:15 -0400) wrote: > >>> +(define-public s >>> + (let ((commit "6604341edb3a775ff94415762af3ee9bd86bfb3c") >>> + (revision "1")) >>> + (package >>> + (name "s") >>> + (version (string-append "0.0.0-" revision "." (string-take commi= t 7))) >> >> I think we should rename this package and variable name to 's-shell' or >> something along those lines. 's' is commonly used as a local variable >> name. Single character variable names are in short supply, and I don't >> think we should allocate them to packages. >> >> Thoughts? > > And what about "r" package? Ah, I had forgotten about 'r'. Thanks for reminding me :) I think we can make an exception for a package as firmly established and widely used as 'r'. It's already been in Guix for a long time, and there are hundreds of packages based on it. However, 's' has not yet had any releases, and as with any highly experimental new program, chances are quite slim that it will ever gain a non-trivial number of users. That's nothing personal, it's just a simple fact about new projects: the overwhelming majority of new projects never gain traction. Do we really want to permanently allocate to it one of the 25 remaining lowercase ASCII single-letter names? That's prime real-estate in the space of possible names. Frankly, I think it's hubris for someone to claim one of those names for their experimental new project. Do we want to set a precedent that anyone can grab one of those single-character names for their pet project, regardless of whether it has any users besides its author? > In my opinion, package names for "r" and "s" should stay the same =E2=80= =93 I > think these names are expected by users. As for the variable names, > they may be renamed, if it is needed. I can understand that point of view. Recently, someone named their new package 'ao'. We simply weren't able to give it that name in Guix, because we already have a package named 'ao' in Guix. If only 26 people in the entire world choose to give their project a two-letter name, then the chances are good that there will be a collision (c.f. birthday paradox), and one of them will need to be renamed. Likewise, if only 5 people in the world choose a single-letter name, then chances are good that there will be a collision. Who here has the hubris to choose one of those names? Do we want to enable that? Mark