On Mon, Dec 15, 2003 at 01:41:50AM +0100, Christoph Berg wrote:
> Re: Branden Robinson in <[🔎] 20031214235315.GB7572@deadbeast.net>
> > > > Debian FreeBSD -> Debian Forneus (BSD)
> > > > Debian NetBSD -> Debian Naberius (BSD)
> > > > Debian OpenBSD -> Debian Orobos (BSD)
> > > [...]
> > > Your proposal would change that. I oppose it, and I would oppose it just
> > > the same if you wanted to call them Loki, Kali or Hitler. (To pick a few
> > > at random.) Using names of evil, real or imagined, is not something
> > > that would be helpful to Debian. That kind of publicity we don't need.
> >
> > I doubt you'd have known they were names from Christian demonology if I
> > hadn't told you. I didn't propse that we use better known names like
> > "Lucifer" or "Satan". Even names like "Belial", "Asmodeus", and
> > "Mephistopheles" are unfamiliar to uneducated Christians (which is most
> > of them, at least in the U.S.).
>
> I consider myself educated, and I've never heard of any demons in school
> where we had 13 years of religious (catholic) education. I can
> definitely say that I'm not offended, and I doubt that anyone I know
> would be.
I've spent quite a while making an (extremely casual) study of such, and I
suspect the only reason that I recognized them was because, quite frankly,
I've spent a fairly large (if not intense) amount of time researching the
topic as a whole.
Even so, I'm amenable to anyone who can come up with names which are less
loaded to random fundamentalists, if possible; of course, most of the
sources on daemons say that they are, as a rule, without names in the
origional Greek usage.
> I like Branden's proposition very much. (Other than the proposed
> Pratchett names.)
I think the point about the author's potential issue with them (whether or
not it's legal, it has many of the same potential problems) may well be
enough reason to avoid that one, sadly. Amusing as I find it.
I suppose we could always pull names from Lovecraft; I think the names from
his work have long since lost any protection they might have had. Debian
Nylarthotep, anyone?
Okay, maybe not.
> > In any event, for any name that doesn't raise trademark issues (and
> > thus potentially jeopardize the entire project), I'd say
> > the choice remains up to those who are actually doing the work -- and
> > that would be the Debian *BSD porters.
>
> Indeed.
One speaker of whom has issues with some of it, another of whom is... me.
We'll sort it out at some point here.
--
Joel Baker <fenton@debian.org> ,''`.
Debian GNU/KLNetBSD(i386) porter : :' :
`. `'
`-
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