Your message dated Tue, 28 Apr 2026 15:49:41 +0000
with message-id <[email protected]>
and subject line Bug#253511: fixed in developers-reference 14.6
has caused the Debian Bug report #253511,
regarding provide guideline to keep the package namespace sane
to be marked as done.
This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
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--
253511: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=253511
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact [email protected] with problems
--- Begin Message ---
Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.6.1.0
Severity: normal
Currently policy states:
|3.1. The package name
|---------------------
|
| Every package must have a name that's unique within the Debian
| archive.
|
| The package name is included in the control field `Package', the
| format of which is described in Section 5.6.6, ``Package''. The
| package name is also included as a part of the file name of the `.deb'
| file.
Here there is no restriction for the package name being *sane*.
On the other hand, "3.2. The version of a package" has
...
| If an upstream package has problematic version numbers they should be
| converted to a sane form for use in the `Version' field.
^^^^
This gives a good ground for not choosing bad version naming.
Most of us think that keeping *unique* name requires the choice of
package name to be *sane* :) (Yes, I know a gnustep application
packager disagreed.)
We need to clarify the position of Debian on 3.1.
Let me propose:
|3.1. The package name
|---------------------
|
| Every package must have a name that's unique within the Debian
| archive.
|
| The package name is included in the control field `Package', the
| format of which is described in Section 5.6.6, ``Package''. The
| package name is also included as a part of the file name of the `.deb'
| file.
|
+ If an upstream package has problematic name they should be converted
+ to a sane form for use in the `Package' field.
+
+3.1.1. Package name guidelines
+------------------------------
+ Use of common sense to avoid name space pollution of package names
+ are encouraged. The package name should be longer than 4
+ characters and should not use generic words. Use of prefix to
+ identify name a group of softwares which are applicable only for
+ the subset of the Debian environment is encouraged. Some
+ traditional popular programs may be exempted from these restriction.
I welcome better English but I think I made my intent clear with above.
I think that the choice of command name should follow similar restriction.
NB: (Here is more of my thoughts ...)
I am not expecting this to be strictly applied from Sarge. This is
to quiet future flame war on package name for post-Sarge.
I see no problem with followings as package name:
* at
* m4
* mc
* dc
* gs
* lv (Maybe because I am Japanese)
* nvi
* g++
* gcc
* ftp
* inn
* lpr
* ppp
* ssh
* screen
There are 51 packages with 2 characters and there are 356 packages with
3 characters already. (unstable/main) Here are 2 character package
names:
af an at bb bc bl cu cw dc di dx e3 ed ee es fv gb gq gs gv ht hx im
kq le lv m4 mc mp nd ne nn pi pv qe qm rc re ri sc sl sn sp tf ud vh
vm wl wv xt yh
I doubt how many packages of these deserve to use 2 character name
space.
I want to see following proposed/existing package names are changed:
* camara --> gnustep-camera
* latexservice --> gnustep-latexservice
* terminal --> gnustep-terminal
* connect --> gnustep-connect
...
(Here I do not care prefix being gnustep- or gnustep-client- )
Generic words may be used for virtual package names if needed.
If anyone has better way to stop nonsense package names, I will be
open for suggestion.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.6-1-686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=en_US.ISO-8859-1
-- no debconf information
--
~\^o^/~~~ ~\^.^/~~~ ~\^*^/~~~ ~\^_^/~~~ ~\^+^/~~~ ~\^:^/~~~ ~\^v^/~~~ +++++
Osamu Aoki <[email protected]> Brussels Belgium, GPG-key: A8061F32
.''`. Debian Reference: post-installation user's guide for non-developers
: :' : http://qref.sf.net and http://people.debian.org/~osamu
`. `' "Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software" --- Social Contract
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Source: developers-reference
Source-Version: 14.6
Done: Holger Levsen <[email protected]>
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
developers-reference, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.
A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.
Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed. If you
have further comments please address them to [email protected],
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.
Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Holger Levsen <[email protected]> (supplier of updated developers-reference
package)
(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing [email protected])
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
Format: 1.8
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:31:14 +0200
Source: developers-reference
Architecture: source
Version: 14.6
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Developers Reference Maintainers <[email protected]>
Changed-By: Holger Levsen <[email protected]>
Closes: 253511 1040704 1040914
Changes:
developers-reference (14.6) unstable; urgency=medium
.
[ Serafeim (Serafi) Zanikolas ]
* best-pkging-practices: link to wiki.d.o/Hardening rather than an obsolete
security manual. Closes: #1040914.
* best-pkging-practices, pkgs: add basic guidelines on package names.
Closes: #253511.
* pkgs, resources: document PTS email subscriptions. Closes: #1040704.
.
[ Holger Wansing ]
* Create clickable manpages links.
.
[ Holger Levsen ]
* Add lintian-overrides for
package-contains-documentation-outside-usr-share-doc for all binary
packages as we have been shipping documentation in
/usr/share/developers-reference/ since forever.
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