Public SourceMage Discussion List

[avr AT gnulinux.nl (Andreas)]

On Fri, May 05, 2006 at 01:28:11PM -0700, Eric Sandall wrote:                 
                                                                              
             
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> Andrew wrote:                                                               
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> > On Fri, May 05, 2006 at 09:21:33PM +0200, Andreas wrote:                  
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> >> So I don't think your proposal is completely arbitrary. Someone a little 
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> >> can probably make them out. And other distros get away with really 
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> >> arbitrary names (like Sid, the kid that breaks toys), so probably 
> >> sourcemage 
> >> can get away with it as well.                                            
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> > Those names are for specific releases, they also had more formal names    
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> > or qualifiers over their lifetime to indicate their stability. Sid was    
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> > at one point 'experimental', 'test', 'stable' (or whatever they use       
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> > over there). The iso's have themed names, however they also are refered   
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> > to as devel, test, and stable over their lifetime.                        
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> Those (Sid, Buzz, etc.) are the names of their (Debian's) ISO releases,     
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> not their branches. If you 'track' Sid then you will only ever have         
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> minor updates to the packages that were installed by Sid, but if you        
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> track stable then you will continue up through Sid, Buzz, etc. to track     
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> the stable branch. We have like names for our ISOs (Flare, Mending,         
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> Guidance, etc.).                                                            
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Sid is always the unstable branch. And it is referred to as either "Sid" or   
                                                                              
             
unstable, depending on the context or preference.                             
                                                                              
             
                                                                              
                                                                              
             
The rest of them are indeed just release names.                               
                                                                              
             
                                                                              
                                                                              
             
Most DD's talk about breaking "Sid", but also refer to "unstable"             
                                                                              
             
in more formal discussions.                                                   
                                                                              
             
                                                                              
                                                                              
             
"Slang" names give a sort of personal touch. It is clear what is meant to 
those                                                                         
                 
in the know, and is used in discussions that are of little interest to those 
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in the know. For other discussions formal names such as "stable" etc are used.

> > For what its worth, I think Eric wasn't actually serious in his proposed  
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> > names, and was using them as an example of how silly giving themed names  
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> > to things would be...                                                     
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> Correct. I was trying to point out how, no matter what names we pick or     
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> how many agree/like the names, in the end they mean nothing. The current    
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> naming scheme for Sorcery and Grimoire branches is, to me, preferred and    
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> useful. Using a 'themed' naming scheme may sound nice, but in the end it    
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> only obfuscates what is what and will lead to more confusion for new        
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> (and some long-time) users.                                                 
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New users will likely stick to the default "stable".                          
                                                                              
             
                                                                              
                                                                              
             
It's not that I disagree with sticking with the somewhat default              
                                                                              
             
naming scheme, but I don't feel it will produce any real confusion            
                                                                              
             
if a more themed alternative exists, no more than for example "council        
                                                                              
             
of elders" would do; useful to those in the know, irrelevant to those         
                                                                              
             
users who just use sourcemage.                                                
                                                                              
             
                                                                              
                                                                              
             
        regards,                                                              
                                                                              
             
        Andre