[Distutils] Colour this bikeshed: Name for setuptools fork (was: Announcing the 'Distribute' project)

[Lennart Regebro]

2009/7/17 Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au>:
> Tarek Ziadé <ziade.tarek at gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Ok so everyone agrees [“Distribute” is] a bad name for many good
>> reasons :)
>>
>> I am changing to setuptools2 then.
>
> You've stated that you don't really care what the name is. Thank you for
> stating that opinion clearly.
>
> Acknowledging the risk of endless bike-shedding, I wish to disagree:
> choosing a good name is very important. Analogous to the name of a
> function or variable in our program code, a project name is the only
> chance we have at initial communication with potential users. Unlike
> identifiers in program code, the name of a project, once it becomes
> established, is extremely difficult to change later.
>
> A good name for a software project is typified as much by things to
> avoid as much as things to aim for:
>
> * The name should avoid unnecessary implication that this is “the next
>  version” of Setuptools. This is a fork, and should be named to make
>  the distinction between the projects clear.
>
> * The name should at least hint at the purpose of the software.
>
>  It doesn't need to encapsulate the purpose directly, and that's almost
>  impossible for most software — especially when choosing a name for a
>  fork that does essentially the same job. But it does need to make the
>  association relatively easy to make in a newcomer's mind.
>
> * The name should be easy to spell, search, and speak.
>
>  That is, it should be formed by well-known orthographic rules (of
>  English, probably, or some other common language), it should have a
>  good chance of leading quickly to the project when typing a query
>  string of “python name_of_the_project”, and it should be fairly
>  unambiguous in spelling when spoken aloud.
>
> * Corrollaries of the above: the name should be relatively short and
>  relatively unique among software projects.
>
> That's a lot to ask of a simple identifier, but I'm convinced those are
> all necessary for a name to be a good one. I never said choosing a good
> name was easy :-)
>
> Examples of ways to get a good name, by no means exhaustive, with
> selected examples of using that way to get a good name:
>
> * A short word that has a clever acronym expansion for the project.
>  Remember that an acronym is a *pronounceable* word (otherwise it's
>  just an initialism :-) Example: “pip”.
>
> * A word in a non-English language that is nevertheless easy for
>  Anglophiles to spell and speak. Bonus points if the word has an
>  indirect association to the project purpose. Example: “midori”.
>
> * The (easily-spelled-and-spoken) name of an animal, plant, or other
>  natural phenomenon with properties that can be easily associated with
>  the project purpose. Example: “ferret”.
>
> * An obscure (yet easily-spelled-and-spoken) English word whose meaning
>  has a clever association with the project purpose. Example:
>  “perdition”.
>
> * Obviously, there are others.
>
> How's that?

Very good argumentation, except that argument that wee need to
separate us from setuptools. Normally in an unfriendly fork I would
disagree. This is however not an unfriendly fork. It's a friendly
fork, and we do it because we must.

Anyway, easy to pronounce, easy to search, has something to do with
the project. Well, setuptools2 is still the good one there. Barring
that, we can't use distutils, or packageutils, which would be the best
names, because they are taken. Taken is also Packaging. So...
Distribute. Not much choice.

Unless we go the "obscure but cute" way, and call it cheesecloth. But
that fails the pronunciation test.


So, while you have arguments for having a good name, I think that in
the end it's so hard to come up with a good name that you usually have
to settle for one that is not bad. So, something that is easy to
remember, easy to say and doesn't mean anything rude in Norwegian. :-)


-- 
Lennart Regebro: Python, Zope, Plone, Grok
http://regebro.wordpress.com/
+33 661 58 14 64