Re: cdebconf, frontends and namespaces

On Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 11:03:21PM +0200, Jérémy Bobbio wrote:
> As we usually name our frontends with the name of the library they are
> built on top (newt, gtk, bogl, etc.) this last requirements means you
> end up needing something like "gtk_handler_entropy".
>
> My personal coding tastes tell me that it's wrong, as the "gtk_"
> namespace is reserved for the GTK+ library.
>
> Possible solutions I can see to fix this:
> * Do nothing, as I'm just splitting hair.
> * Rename the GTK+ frontend to "fe_gtk" or something similar. I don't
> like this option because it is inconsistent with other frontends
> (DEBCONF_FRONTEND=newt vs. DEBCONF_FRONTEND=fe_gtk).
> * Change the plugin symbol lookup to "fe_<frontend>_handler_<type>"
> (adding "fe_" in front of the current way). That won't be a huge
> change, as they are not that many plugins currently.

I don't particularly like "fe_" as a prefix (not even for frontends, actually - it's acronym disease and not obvious when you first come to look at it). How about "cdebconf_<frontend>_handler_<type>"?

Also, there needs to be a transitional period when old plugins still work. Plugins are deployed in production!

> This last option gets my preference. Although, for consistency, I would
> probably like to rename any exported frontend symbols to "fe_<frontend>"
> while doing that change.

As above, "cdebconf_" seems like the proper prefix for exported symbols in cdebconf when there's a namespace concern; otherwise you're in real trouble should there ever be a libfe ...

-- 
Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson@debian.org]


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-boot-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org