Re: Bug#679547: ITP: ben -- toolbox for Debian maintainers
On Friday 29 June 2012 21:18:39 Ben Hutchings wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 07:36:46PM +0200, Benjamin Drung wrote:
> > Am Freitag, den 29.06.2012, 19:21 +0200 schrieb Mehdi Dogguy:
> > > Package: wnpp
> > > Severity: wishlist
> > > Owner: Mehdi Dogguy <mehdi@debian.org>
> > >
> > > * Package name : ben
> > >
> > > Version : 0.6
> > > Upstream Author : Mehdi Dogguy and Stéphane Glondu
> > >
> > > * URL : http://ben.debian.net/
> > > * License : AGPL-3+
> > >
> > > Programming Lang: C, OCaml
> > > Description : toolbox for Debian maintainers
> > >
> > > This is a collection of useful tools that Debian maintainers can use
> > > to make their packaging work easier. They all work with regular
> > > Debian package list files, and should be useful for Debian
> > > derivatives as well. This package ships a single executable, "ben",
> > >
> > > with the following subcommands:
> > > * download: download a set of package list files from a mirror
> > > * monitor: monitor the status of a set of packages across several
> > >
> > > architectures (useful for transitions)
> > >
> > > * query: query packages using their metadata (similar to grep-dctrl,
> > >
> > > but uses a dedicated query language)
> > >
> > > * tracker: frontend to multiple monitors
> >
> > What does ben stand for? Is this just a short name for me? ;)
>
> It's part of the ongoing project to create ambiguity between the
> developer and package namespaces. We already have packages for abby,
> abe, aldo, alex, alice, axel, cecilia, chuck, clementine, clive, dino,
> ed, elisa, elmer, elvis, emma, eric, florence, grace, gregorio, hal,
> hannah, hercules, ivy, jack, jade, jed, joe, john, jupp, kasumi, kate,
> kaya, kiki, kitty, magnus, maki, maria, maude, midge, mona, nana,
> olive, paco, pasco, pia, pius, rio, ruby, simba, stella, tessa, tina,
> vagrant, vera, yorick, yoshimi (and no doubt other personal names I
> don't recognise, not to mention family names) though we are lacking
> developers to match many of them.
>
> Ben (Hutchings).
Fair enough, but I'm also concerned that even more dangerous use-cases exist
with so many generic package names... Consider a hypothetical scenario like
that: a happy guy gets back at home, sits behind his box and tries to install
a handful set of "useful" packages and the wife was carelessly listening to
his shouting out various commands from the other room:
apt-get install \
hello emma why cheese and wine burn and cook the dog animals instead
half an hour later:
apt-get install \
wipe the most sane dates contacts and tasks
(yes, the packages will happily install, but the pets and business contacts
would most likely suffer severe data loss - depending on the wife:)
--
pub 4096R/0E4BD0AB <people.fccf.net/danchev/key pgp.mit.edu>
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