[racket-dev] new package system collections and conflicts

I do not think we should change the example. I do not want people to
falsely believe that they can any expectation of the modules provided by a
package from its name. In particular, your comment about this being
"strange" is not supported by the package system's promises.

Jay

On Sunday, November 30, 2014, Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu> wrote:

> We should change that example. It would indeed be strange for package
> named "tic-tac-toe" would introduce a `data/matrix` module, and the
> documentation really shouldn't suggest that it makes sense for a
> package to introduce overlaps that are not reasonably expected from the
> package name.
>
>
> There are plenty of real examples where it's sensible for different
> packages to introduce modules in overlapping collections, though.
> Sometimes, it's because different packages implement different facets
> of a conceptual whole, such as "math-lib", "math-doc", and "math-test"
> all extending the "math" collection. Sometimes, it's more a mater of
> history, such as "compatibility-lib" extending several different
> collections. And then there are example that you might classify as
> either of those or as a third kind, depending on how you look at it:
> "draw-lib" adds `racket/draw`, and "gui-package-manager" adds
> `pkg/gui`.
>
>
> The "data" collection is among those that were intended to be extended
> by multiple packages. Whether that's really a good idea remains to be
> seen, but that's why "data" shows up as an example in the manual.
> (Again, though, no one would expect a "tic-tac-toe" package to
> introduce a new module in "data".)
>
>
> At Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:22:49 -0500, Neil Van Dyke wrote:
> > Given the example from the documentation, of the `tic-tac-toe` package
> > and "conflicts" (quoted at end of this email), instead, why isn't the
> > norm to do:
> >
> >      (require tic-tac-toe)
> >
> > Or, when necessary:
> >
> >      (require tic-tac-toe/matrix)
> >
> > Why, when one installs a package named `tic-tac-toe`, would one be
> > referencing modules of the package as `data/matrix`?
> >
> > I don't recall ever seeing a situation in which I wanted different
> > third-party Racket packages to be stomping over each other's
> > module-naming namespaces.
> >
> > For people who want to release lots of well-behaved reusable packages,
> > using good practices, with minimal effort and head-scratching, things
> > like this are a problem.
> >
> > > 2 Package Concepts
> > >
> > > A package is a set of modules in some number of collections. Modules
> > > installed using the Racket package manager are required like any other
> > > modules. For example, if the package tic-tac-toe contains the module
> > > "matrix.rkt" in a "data" collection, then after tic-tac-toe is
> installed,
> > >
> > >     (require data/matrix)
> > [...]
> > > 2.5 Package Conflicts
> > >
> > > Two packages are in conflict if they contain the same module. For
> > > example, if the package tic-tac-toe contains the module file
> > > "data/matrix.rkt" and the package factory-optimize contains the module
> > > file "data/matrix.rkt", then tic-tac-toe and factory-optimize are in
> > > conflict.
> > >
> > > A package may also be in conflict with Racket itself, if it contains a
> > > module file that is part of the base Racket implementation. For
> > > example, any package that contains "racket/list.rkt" is in conflict
> > > with Racket.
> > >
> > > For the purposes of conflicts, a module is a file that ends in ".rkt",
> > > ".ss", or ".scrbl".
> >
> > Neil V.
> >
> > _________________________
> >   Racket Developers list:
> >   http://lists.racket-lang.org/dev
> _________________________
>   Racket Developers list:
>   http://lists.racket-lang.org/dev
>


-- 
Jay McCarthy
http://jeapostrophe.github.io

           "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing,
      for ye are laying the foundation of a great work.
And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."
                          - D&C 64:33
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