[csw-maintainers] questions about GAR, history, and naming

[Dagobert Michelsen]

Hi Phil,

Am 04.10.2009 um 21:53 schrieb Philip Brown:
> SO.. I'm reading the front page blurb about GAR on
>
> http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/gar/
>
> A few questions and concerns come up, which I think would be best  
> clarified
> and sorted out on the list here.
>
>  "GAR is the build and packaging system used by OpenCSW. GAR is  
> based on
>   the GARNOME project"
>
> Err.. pardon? I thought it was based on "the linux BBC project"'s  
> GAR build
> system.

Yes, and yes. It is more like
   Linux BBCs GAR -> GARNOME -> OpenCSW GAR
So it is based on GARNOME, which itself is based on Linux BBC GAR.

> to remind people what THAT is/was all about:
>  http://www.lnx-bbc.com/garticle.html
>
> I believe that GARNOME also forked off of that or something.

True. But to be precise I guess we must ask Cory :-)

> and speaking of which.. I think that to do things cleanly, we need to
> EITHER have a "core, generic GAR" build system, and layer
>  opencsw stuff on top of that
>  (I think this is the cleanest thing to do)
> OR rename/rebrand "our" build system, as "cswgar", or "garcsw" or
>  something.

What do you mean by "generic GAR"? Of course we can split of the package
descriptions, but also the rest has "csw" all over the place.

> If we dont provide a generic "gar", then I think we need to migrate  
> from
> gar.sourceforge.net, to something more specific. Otherwise, I think  
> we do
> not deserve that namespace, and it should be ceeded to the ORIGINAL  
> gar
> people at lnx-bbc.com

I think moving to something more specific without being explicitly asked
by someone wanting that project name on SourceForge is... quite a task.
Changing URLs, switching all repos, all external references as they
include the project name... everything not done quickly. Without a real
need I don't want to do that now. Not just because another name is
nicer. IMHO too many resources from too many people would be bound for
something without immediate benefit.

Just my 0,02€


Best regards

   -- Dago