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Re: kernel-* package names



On Wed, Feb 06, 2002 at 12:24:27PM -0400, Ben Armstrong wrote:
> 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.

As already pointed out, you can with microkernels. If the shared
libraries have the same ABI it is possible to use the same binary both
on GNU/Hurd and GNU/Linux for example. (Both use glibc, so it's
possible in theory) The BSDs also have Linux emulation AFAIK. So I
think switching is at least partly possible.
 
> > 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.

But those kernel-whatever things also show up in Debian GNU/Hurd and
will show up in Debian GNU/BSD. That's a problem which has been
ignored for years. There is already some proposal to make the
architecture handling better. See 
http://master.debian.org/~brinkmd/arch-handling.txt. Both Debian
GNU/Hurd and Debian GNU/BSD would like to see that implemented.

> Renaming kernel-* to linux-* (or kernel-linux-*) is principally a
> political issue, not a technical one. 

It's both political and technical.

Jeroen Dekkers
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