Re: GNOME Games source name

[Jeremy Bicha <jbicha linux com>]

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 7:47 AM, Adrien Plazas <kekun plazas laposte net> wrote:
> AFAIK the application is already distributed in Arch since 3.18 and as a
> Flatpak with the gnome-games name.

No, it's not in Arch yet really. [1]

It's funny you bring up Flatpak though, because I think that proves
you *can* change a project name even after it's been packaged in
distros.

> This seems like a distribution problem and one which is specific to Debian
> and its derivatives, so after more reflection changing the project's name is
> probably not the solution, especially as nothing prevents Debian to use a
> different package name like the one suggested by Michael.

Of course, Ubuntu and Linux Mint are major Debian derivatives. But
it's not only Debian derivatives as openSUSE did the same thing! [2]

Not to put words in Michael's mouth, but my reading was that he was
suggesting a name for your valued project, not for the distro
metapackage.

Even if Debian and openSUSE changed the name  of the metapackage
today, that name would not be available for reuse in those projects
for *years*. In Debian's case, the old name must be kept with a
temporary dependency on the new name for at least one stable release.

While you mentioned confusion to users as a concern, think about the
confusion when several distros have to maintain a different source
package name, meaning the package is named differently in their
repositories and bug trackers than the primary project. I believe it's
early enough that most of the pain is easily avoidable, even though
it's less convenient now than it would have been a few months ago.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[1] https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?q=gnome-games
[2] https://software.opensuse.org/package/gnome-games