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Re: kernel-* package names



On Wed, Feb 06, 2002 at 05:13:55PM +0100, Luca - De Whiskey's - De Vitis wrote:
> "kernel is Linux" sounds to me as mail-reader is mutt, editor is vim,
> programming language is... C-- (Yes, I used a restricted version of C
> for an university exam :> ) etc.
> How many holy wars will start now? None, i hope: it's only an example :)

Unlike those examples, once you've decided which kernel to use for a given
Debian system, you can't just arbitrarily switch.  I would argue
internal consistency of names is all that is important for the user.

> We should use names with their meaning, and not mislead users. On the
> other hand we should show users the real diversity of the world we
> offer: many kernels, in this case.

Users won't be misled.  If I install Debian GNU/Linux and fetch a
package called kernel-whatever, it is self-evident that it is for Linux,
and not for hurd or bsd.  It is internally consistent.

Renaming kernel-* to linux-* (or kernel-linux-*) is principally a
political issue, not a technical one.  So at the very least, this
discussion belongs on debian-project, not here.

Ben
-- 
    nSLUG       http://www.nslug.ns.ca      synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
    Debian      http://www.debian.org       synrg@debian.org
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