[csw-maintainers] package naming conventions for addons to other packages

[Peter FELECAN]

Philip Brown <phil at bolthole.com> writes:

> On 10/29/10, Peter FELECAN <pfelecan at opencsw.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Are you volunteering to write the initial wording, or are you
>>> requesting someone else draft it?
>>
>> Very simple:
>>
>> Do you, as an active foundation maintainer, agree to relive the current
>> limit of packages name from the current 20 characters to the 256
>> characters defined by the current packaging system?
>
> It's NOT that simple.
> That 256 char limit is for the "NAME" field.
>
> We use that "NAME" field, as the normal "description" alongside the
> "software name".
> We should reserve at least SOME of that space, for the description.
> Remember, the format is
>
> NAME=softname - Brief Description of software goes here
>
> *Also*...
> I'm presuming that you also like strong correlation between "software
> name" and "package name"
>
> ie:  softwarename => CSWsoftwarename
>
>
> If the CSWxxx field also has a limit of 256, that means we need to
> limit our "softwarename" to be 253, just to be strictly correct.
> But if the CSWxxx field has to be smaller... then guess what? either
> the software name must be smaller, or you lose the strong correlation.
>
> AAAAnnnd.... surprise... even in solaris 10, it has to be smaller than
> 256 chars. A *lot* smaller.
>
>
>
> from pkginfo(4)
>      PKG
>    Abbreviation for the package being installed.
>    ....
>    The abbreviation is limited to a maximum  length  of  32 characters.
>
> Which means that the "software name" can only be a maximum of 29
> chars. presuming that you DO want to preserve "strong correlation".
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>

Given:

uname -a
SunOS current9x 5.9 Generic_122301-52 i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris

man -s4 pkginfo

[...]
NAME  Text that specifies the package name  (maximum  length

SunOS 5.9           Last change: 19 Feb 2003                    1

File Formats                                           pkginfo(4)

           of  256  ASCII  characters). Use the NAME parameter as
           the foundation for describing  the  functionality  and
           purpose  of  the  package;  spell out any acronyms and
           avoid internal product/project code  names.  The  DESC
           parameter  can  then be used to expand the descriptive
           information.  Use  the  NAME  parameter  to  state  as
           specifically as possible the use of the package, why a
           user would need to load it, and so on.

     PKG   Abbreviation for  the  package  being  installed.  All
           characters  in  the abbreviation must be alphanumeric.
           You can also use the - and + characters in the  abbre-
           viation.   The  first character cannot be numeric, a +
           or a -.

           The abbreviation is limited to a maximum length of  32
           characters.  install, new, and all are reserved abbre-
           viations. It is  customary  to  make  the  first  four
           letters  unique to your company, such as the company's
           stock symbol.
[...]

Then:

A package name, i.e CSWsoftwarename, could have 29 characters as a
limit, the CSW prefix taking the remaining 3 characters.

This is confirmed in
http://cvs.opensolaris.org/source/xref/onnv/onnv-gate/usr/src/lib/libadm/common/pkgnmchk.c

114 	} else if (count > NON_ABI_NAMELNGTH)

where

 51 #define	NON_ABI_NAMELNGTH	32

and by experiment.

Remark: For a fully Solaris 10 installed system, there is the package
        SUNWevolution-socs-connect-share having PKG length of 32
        characters.

In conclusion, the current limits for our packages are arbitrarily fixed
at 20 when the system limit is 32.

Thus, here is the reformulated call for vote:

Do you, as an active foundation maintainer, agree to relive the current
limit of packages name from the current 20 characters to the 32
characters defined by the current packaging system?

-- 
Peter