[plt-dev] renaming programs in the distribution

From: Matthew Flatt (mflatt at cs.utah.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 20 12:38:49 EDT 2010

Here are the plausible options we came up with on the IRC channel:

 1: Keep `racket' plus a separate command tool
  1A: Keep `rico' as the command tool (i.e., status quo)
  1B: Rename `rico' to `racket-tool'

 2: Rename `racket' to `racket-run', rename `rico' to `racket', add a
    `racket run' command, and let `racket' (no command) still provide a
    REPL

 3: Like 2, but let `racket' guess whether its first argument is a
    command or a file name so that `racket <file>' often works (i.e.,
    the most recent proposal, but amended with `racket-run' for
    scripts)

1A is obviously best, because it fits existing conventions.
1A is obviously worst, because `rico' doesn't contain "Racket".

1B acceptably fixes the problem with `rico' by adding "racket".
1B leaves us with an unacceptably long and ugly tool name, as will
   anything that starts "racket".

2 works well, since it makes `racket' the one executable for
  everything.
2 doesn't work, because users expect `racket <file>' to to run the
  file.

3 looks like the best combination; it almost always does what you'd
  expect, and the only real trouble shows up with people who put "." in
  their PATH, which is a typical newbie mistake that we shouldn't try
  to accommodate. [But I have "." in my PATH.]
3 looks suspiciously like an attempt to innovate; it's unusual, it has
  surprising corner cases, and it interacts awkwardly with tab
  completion.


I can live with any of the options.

My vote, most preferred to least:
'(3 1B 1A 2)



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