Re: Why "daemon" is not like "deity"

[Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net>]

On 4 Mar 1998 bruce@va.debian.org wrote:

> > dwarf# apropos daemon
> 
> Gee, Dale, do I have to spell it out?
> There is no executable named "daemon".
> We did not invent the term.

Bruce:
Anyway, there is no program named "daemon" in the system, and most of them
except for cron and init are described as "servers" these days.

I felt that the output of apropos addressed the incorrect and exagerated
information in the above paragraph.

	1. cron is still described as a daemon
	2. init is neither described as a daemon, nor as a server.
	3. while there is no program named, simply, daemon, there is,
	   of course, the start-stop-daemon which certainly incorporates
	   the name daemon. (even suggests it somehow controls their behavior)

> 
> This feels like a spelling flame. Do you have a point?
> 
Possibly ;-)

You profess concern over religious sensibilities with the name deity, but
express no concern over the system's use of daemon. (and yes I understand
the daemon is a "pre-existing" condition ... so what?)

The name you suggest to replace it has many people looking for the nearest
air sickness bag, while most of the rest suggest an interesting collection
of unicizms.

My point is, what's the point? Whatever character string that is assigned
to the product of the Deity Group will not change the functional
characteristics of that product in the least. It is those functional
issues that are of interest to us, and rightly should be, not what you
name it. I'd be happy with asdf or ;lkj at this point as long as it does
the job.

It is my understanding that this is an "upstream" product intended to be
used by other distributions besides Debian. Did the Deity Group ask for a
renaming of their product? Does it matter what you, or I, or any of the
Debian developers think it should be named?

Waiting is,

Dwarf
-- 
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