[Vm-dev] [OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm] a385f5: Add a configure option to specify name of the inst...

[David T. Lewis]

On Tue, Sep 07, 2021 at 09:15:50PM -0500, Chris Muller wrote:
> Hi Dave,
> 
> This is something I've wanted for a long time, thank you!
> 
> As an aside, in the interpreter VM a similar installation naming
> > convention is used, but in that case it refers strictly to image
> > word size regardless of host word size. Thus the naming conventions
> > are similar, but they actually mean different things on opensmalltalk-vm
> > compared to squeakvm.org interpreter VM. But for now that difference
> > does not matter.
> 
> 
> Just to clarify, is each flavor now producing a fully unique name, or is
> there still a potential naming conflict with interpreter VM's?

Hi Chris,

The short answer is yes, the name spaces are unique and the naming
conflict is (or will be) eliminated.

There are several moving parts in play here, so for background:

1) Pull request PR 585 is part of Phil's work to update the Debian
squeak-vm package to include opensmalltalk-vm along with classic
interpreter VMs in the package. Until now, only the older interpreter
VMs were provided, so this will be an important step forward.

2) Pull requests PR 590 and PR 591 are my attempt to support Phil's
efforts by enabling distinctly named /usr/lib/squeak/<foo> installation
directories and distinctly named /usr/bin/<foo> start scripts
when VMs are installed in standard Unix directories.

3) Subversion update r3810 (squeakvm.org SVN repository) complements
PR 590 and PR 590 by providing similar distinct naming for the
interpreter VM (e.g. the ability to install /usr/bin/squeakvm
instead of /usr/bin/squeak to avoid name space collision with the
heavily overloaded /usr/bin/squeak script name).

Taken as a whole, these updates enable the full range of Squeak VMs
to be installed on a single Unix (Linux) system in the standard
Unix/Linux directory conventions. The changes do not (I hope)
cause any problems or conflicts for the VMs that are normally built
in the ./products directory for opensmalltalk-vm VMs.

I should emphasize here that from my point of view I think that
Phil's work to produce a solid Debian package is the primary goal,
and the updates that I have added are intended to support this
(although I suspect that I have inadvertently complicated his
efforts by throwing some new PRs into the mix, sorry about that).

The PRs still need a few more eyeballs, but once integrated we
should be in a better position to supporting Debian, and therefore
also to support the large community of Raspberry Pi users who
get their Squeak/Slack/Etoys through Debian.

Dave