[Gnu-arch-users] request for slight more permissive category names

[Jeremy Shaw]

Hello,

Is there some technical reason that category names are so heavily
restricted? I am trying to define a policy for storing debian packages
in tla and maintain changes against them. debian package names would
map perfectly[1] to category names, except category names can not contain
a . or + or start with a number[2]. Obviously, I can do substitutions
like use % instead of + and , instead of . but it's a bit annoying.

Of course, I already have to heavily mangle the version number, since
tla version numbers can only contain [0-9.].  I have heard bantering
about version aliases and other such fancies. If implemented, would
this allow me to use more natural category names and version numbers?
I would want anyone using my archive to be able to use the expressive
names transparently.

Jeremy Shaw.

[1] technically a debian package name can contain -- which would have
to be mangled. Currently no such package exists.


[2] The debian package name policy is:

Package names must consist only of lower case letters (a-z), digits
(0-9), plus (+) and minus (-) signs, and periods (.). They must be at
least two characters long and must start with an alphanumeric
character.