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Re: "GNU" and Ada
- From: Richard Stallman <rms at gnu dot org>
- To: fw at deneb dot enyo dot de
- Cc: gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org, dewar at gnat dot com
- Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 22:26:38 -0700 (MST)
- Subject: Re: "GNU" and Ada
- References: <87vgerbvtl.fsf@deneb.enyo.de>
- Reply-to: rms at gnu dot org
Some people (mostly of the Ada for GNU/Linux Team) feel that there
should be a "GNU" package hierarchy which collects bindings to GNU
packages as well as independent Ada code (for example, a container
library, or a reasonably designed interface to operating system
features). Sample packages could be "GNU.MP" (a binding to the GNU MP
library, for dealing with numbers of arbitrary precision), "GNU.OS.IO"
(operating system I/O routines for the GNU system), and so on.
It seems like a good idea.
Someone is probably needed to maintain this shared namespace. If no
one else steps and nobdy objects, I am willing to do that. I can also
write a draft policy which describes the criteria according to which
names under "GNU" are assigned.
We should use a very simple criterion: only official GNU packages
can have a GNU.* name. If something is free software but not a
GNU package, we can use it and recommend it, but it should not
have a name which suggests it is a GNU package.
Are we actually in a position to decide which packages can have
a GNU.* name? Will those people releasing non-free "GNU.*"
packages listen to us?