[plt-dev] renaming programs in the distribution
Since the vote is split evenly between 1A and 3, I think that 1B is the
right compromise:
* It keeps `racket' as a REPL plus program launcher.
* It puts "racket" into the command program's name.
* It avoids fragile heuristics on filenames versus commands.
The name `racket-tool' is too long for me, but after aliasing `rt' to
`racket-tool' (and `r' to `racket') in my shell, I expect to be
completely happy with 1B.
At Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:38:49 -0600, Matthew Flatt wrote:
> 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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