[Pkg-mozext-maintainers] debian package naming conventions for extensions for mozilla-based tools

[intrigeri]

hi again,

Daniel Kahn Gillmor wrote (23 Jun 2009 21:11:08 GMT) :
> (un?)fortunately, firegpg should work with both iceweasel and
> firefox (and maybe some other browsers?). Given that our most
> popular derivative distro (ubuntu) calls the browser firefox, it
> seems a little bit weird to have the package change names when it
> jumps distros, no? So which prefix should the extensions use?

I understand this would be a bit weird.

I'd of course prefer us to be allowed to use the firefox- namespace
for extensions, but IIRC, some owners use their "rights" to prevent us
from using "their" trademark.

So we have to choose between:
  1. forget about the namespace thing => firegpg
  2. choose whatever non-trademarked namespace => XXX-firegpg

#1 is a bit annoying for our users.
#2 is a bit annoying for our derivative distributions' maintainers
and/or users.

Our users already have to use a unusual name in order to install our
Firefox version, they already have to click on a unusual icon in order
to run it, so I am clearly in favour of leaving them at least
a consistent namespace for iceweasel extensions.

By the way, nothing forces Ubuntu maintainers to rename the package;
they can even quite easily upload a pseudo-package once for all,
called firefox-firegpg, whose only task would be to Depends:
iceweasel-firegpg, if they care about usability.

> Maybe the package is named firegpg but it
>    Provides: iceweasel-firegpg, firefox-firegpg

> would that work with your tab completion? (i don't use tab
> completion for apt-cache, and i'm not sure what shell you prefer
> anyway).

I don't think it would work (zsh, but this does not matter, as my less
tech-savvy friends rather use the Debian default interactive shell,
and some are also used to such a tab-completion feature).

bye,
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  intrigeri <intrigeri at boum.org>
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