Re: python module name conflict

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort <pochu@debian.org>]

Hi Frédéric,

On 05/06/10 17:43, PICCA Frédéric-Emmanuel wrote:
> I would like to package this piece of software:
> http://www.tango-controls.org/static/tau/latest/doc/html/index.html
> 
> which provides a tau python module.
> 
> but the debian python-tau also provides this tau module.
> 
> I already propose to the upstream to change the name of the module
> 
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3006323&group_id=57612&atid=484769
> 
> you can see his reply as comment number 1.
> 
> How should I solve this issue if I whant to provide the debian package of there software ?

IMHO one of them needs to be renamed, probably the newest one. If the one you
want to package is only used in the project upstream mentions, renaming that one
would be a good option They can temporarily do something like this:

try:
    import newname
except ImportError:
    try:
        import tau as newname
    except:
        print 'newname not available'
        sys.exit(1)

And use 'newname' in all the code, until some time has passed.

Since the Debian Policy forbids packages that don't provide the same
functionality (like these two modules) to conflict with each other, you cannot
go that route. You could probably hack it with .pth so that you don't need a
package Conflict, but that's just a hack and the problem is still there, so in
the end one will need to be renamed.

Cheers,
Emilio