[ZODB-Dev] Re: What do you tink of a package named "z"? (was Re: Re: Python module namespace pollution)

[Casey Duncan]

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 05:57:37 -0400
Jim Fulton <jim at zope.com> wrote:
[..]
> 
> 2. I want to try out the "z" name on a wider audience. We want people
> to find
>     lots of Zope software usable outside of Zope. And I'm wondering if
>     the use of a name like "z" for a container package would affect
>     someone's decision about whether or not to use something in the
>     package. I understand John's reaction to the "z". Claiming a
>     single letter is a bit bold. But as I said in my other note, the
>     leter "z" is already closely associated with Zope in the Python
>     community and it seems very unlikely that someone else would want
>     to use it.  (It's far less likely that someone would name a
>     module"z" than it is that someone would name a module "persistent"
>     or "transaction". I think "z" has some advantages, which I've
>     listed in: http://dev.zope.org/Zope3/RenameTheZopePackage.
> 
>     This is an important decision for us.  I'd really appreciate some
>     serious feedback on this decision.

I'm beginning to dislike the z, mostly because it doesn't covey enough
meaning. 'zope' is clear and meaningful (and googleable). "What the hell
is zope?" is a lot easier to answer then "What the hell is z?".

Here is my proposed solution:

- Leave Zope 3 as zope. Possibly make transactions, persistent and
btrees under the zope
  package. Maybe btrees and persistent can go under zodb, I don't care
too much.

- Rename the Zope 2 package (currently Zope) to Zope2 (or zope2). It
will be Zope 2 forever.

- Add a module alias (probably via a sys.modules hack) from "Zope" ->
"Zope2". Mark the "Zope" package deprecated in Zope 2.8 (but still
supported). Change all imports in Zope 2.8 to use the "Zope2" package
instead of "Zope".

- Remove the "Zope" module alias in a later Zope 2 release.

I think we have learned the lesson that import side-effects are bad. If
we make "import zope" innocuous, then the "zope" package can hopeful
suit us for as long as the name is used for the software.

-Casey