[lsb-discuss] Packaging group

[Mike Hearn]

> That's a tall order.  First you have to get people to agree
> that dependencies are a good thing :-)

Oh phooey :) OK, I don't mind having that debate, if you are really
serious...

> Then it's worth discussing who controls the package namespace;
> once we have dependencies, we probably need package names to
> be globally unique.  (Don't want Joe's libnet confused with Fred's
> libnet if they're not compatible!)

I was thinking LANANA, but that was just an off-the-wall suggestion.
They have the advantage of already existing, and already being used for
linux namespace management (ie added credibility).

One possibility would be to work towards an agreement between the
various major distros to align their dependancy names, probably by
importing the debian database as they have the largest number of
packages, ie they have resolved conflicts like the one between
http://ephiphany.mozdev.org/, a web browser, and
http://epiphany.sf.net/, a game.

Of course, that'd be a massive achievement in and of itself, but it's
worth a shot. The benefits would be large as well.

thanks -mike