Re: ICU library naming scheme modification proposal

Frank, thanks for the comments...

>> I think Windows names should mutate to mimic the currently more readable
Unix naming scheme...

I agree with your comment and generally prefer verbose as compared to terse
naming....

I cannot comment on the 8.3 windows limitations.  I believe George Rhoten
could do that better...

On the iSeries there is the older qsys file system in which the native OS
is stored and there is the root file system, which includes the qsys file
system, and can handle very long path and file names.  The qsys file system
is still predominantly used to directly bind to srvpgms and run
applications.

The qsys file system is limited to 10 character object names and is where
service program objects and program objects are stored among many other
things.  When ICU is built in the root file system a link is made to the
actual srvpgm and pgm objects in the qsys file system.

Currently, names for the iSeries in the qsys file system are :

libicuctes, libicudata, libicui18n, libicuio, libicule,
libiculx, libicutool, and libicuuc .

If we provide versioning on the iSeries it will either:

1.  Be the same as unix-like platforms by shortening the remaining four.
2.  Be different from all other platforms by leaving some names long and
others short on unix platforms but shortening them on the iSeries.  This
would also require special Makefile code to handle the differences between
platforms.

>> Though really, I think the names matter very little.
Can I assume that you would not be opposed to shortening the names...?

Barry Novinger



                                                                                                                                            
                      Frank Griswold                                                                                                        
                      <[email protected]>            To:       [email protected]                                       
                      Sent by:                            cc:       [email protected]                                                  
                      [email protected].        Subject:  Re: ICU library naming scheme modification proposal                     
                      usf.ibm.com                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                            
                      03/24/2004 12:51 PM                                                                                                   
                      Please respond to griswolf                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                            




>> ...  What I would like to accomplish at the same time is a bit
>> more common of a naming scheme across platforms.
>> ...
>> Next would be a two character ID to identify the particular ICU library.
>> ...

I see no merit in obuscating the purpose of the libraries behind concise
but opaque (or at least obscure) abbreviations. It seems to me the
proposal moves the wrong way: Instead, I think Windows names should
mutate to mimic the currently more readable Unix naming scheme... If any
renaming at all is really useful. Given three choices, I'd order them from
best to worst as:

  1: No change is needed
  2: Make windows names longer and more readable
  3: Make unix names shorter and less readable

Though really, I think the names matter very little.

-- frank griswold

>> Subject: ICU library naming scheme modification proposal
>> To: [email protected]
>> From: Barry Novinger <[email protected]>
>> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:42:15 -0600
>>
>> I'd like to get some feedback from the ICU community regarding a naming
>> scheme change proposal.
>>
>> I am attempting to add versioning to the ICU libraries, that is the .so
and
>> service program names as they appear in the root and qsys file systems
on
>> the iSeries.  What I would like to accomplish at the same time is a bit
>> more common of a naming scheme across platforms.
>>
>> Currently the naming on Windows is:
>>
>> ctestfw.dll, icudt28.dll, icuin28.dll, icuio28.dll, icule28.dll,
>> iculx28.dll, icutu28.dll, and icuuc28.dll .
>>
>> On Unix-like platforms the naming is as follows with various extensions
>> which are not pertinent so I have excluded the variations.  I don't have
a
>> Unix build in front of me but believe this to be accurate.
>>
>> libicuctestfw28, libicudata28, libicui18n28, libicuio28, libicule28,
>> libiculx28, libicutoolutil28, and libicuuc28 .
>>
>>
>> I am proposing the following:
>>
>>    Obviously for unix-like platforms maintain the "lib" prefix.
>>    This would be followed by "icu".
>>    Next would be a two character ID to identify the particular ICU
library.
>>
>>    Four of the eight already only use two characters for all platforms:
>>    io, le, lx and uc  .
>>    The remaining four would be shortened also as follows ...
>>
>>    ctestfw -> ct
>>    data     -> dt
>>    i18n      -> in
>>    toolutil -> tu
>>
>>    This would follow the current windows naming scheme for those three
that
>>    currently have two character naming.
>>
>> 4.    Finally, this would be followed by the ICU major version number
for
>> two characters: 28, 30, etc.
>>
>> Please feed back your comments by March 30th.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Barry Novinger
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