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Bug#665851: marked as done (GNU parallel, name conflict with moreutils)

Your message dated Fri, 25 May 2012 18:51:07 +0100
with message-id <[🔎] 20415.50827.560713.850742@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
and subject line Re: Bug#665851: Bug#597050: GNU parallel, name conflict with moreutils
has caused the Debian Bug report #665851,
regarding GNU parallel, name conflict with moreutils
to be marked as done.

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665851: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=665851
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--- Begin Message --- 
Package: debian-ctte

For quite a while we have had a program in moreutils called
/usr/bin/parallel.  More recently, we have had a new "parallel"
program which has become a GNU project, and which for compatibility
would like to own /usr/bin/parallel.

The two programs have similar purposes.  The GNU one is more
featureful; indeed, nowadays it has an emulation mode, controllable
via an initial command line option and a configuration file, which can
make it compatible with the moreutils one.

#518696 (BCC'd) is the ITP for GNU parallel.
#597050 (BCC'd) is a request to the moreutils maintainer to
                remove moreutils's parallel.

The viable answers to the key question would appear to be:

  A.  /usr/bin/parallel should be GNU parallel.
  B.  /usr/bin/parallel should be moreutils parallel.
  C.  The two programs should Conflict.
  D.  Neither program may use this name.

Everything else will follows from one of these options.

Some might say D is forbidden by Policy and that C is mandated but
this would seem perverse given that the two programs have similar
functionality and invocation - they're not unrelated in intent, even
if they are unrelated in code.  Anyway we currently have no process
for enforcing D against a maintainer who simply fails to get around to
doing their part, so would really need a TC decision.

My view is that GNU parallel should win, particularly given that it's
a successful upstream project, being actively developed, and has
various compatibility features to ease the transition.  This is no
worse a compatibility problem than when we have switched between
different programs on previous occasions.

I would like to bring this matter to the TC.  If the committee agrees
with my preferred outcome, I think the transition would look something
like this:

  1. GNU parallel is uploaded with "Replaces: moreutils (<< CURRENT)"

  2. moreutils is uploaded with /usr/bin/parallel removed, and
     transitionally "Recommends: parallel" added (dependency strength
     to be determined by the moreutils maintainer); this may need to
     be an NMU.

Ian.

--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message --- 
Georgios M. Zarkadas writes ("Bug#665851: Bug#597050: GNU parallel, name conflict with moreutils"):
> just FYI, GNU parallel is already in Wheezy, in a way that does not
> conflict with moreutils (cf. the last messages in Bug#518696).

Excellent, thanks.  I'm closing 665851 then.

Ian.

--- End Message ---
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