Making a new package ecosystem

  • People complain the old package management system doesn’t work and/or is too complex. A solution is needed.
  • Pick a strange and inappropriate common word for the name of your new system. It should have nothing to do with the actual function or workings of your tool. “Groundhog”? “Frigate”? “Fairy”? Not only will users find this cute, but it will make it impossible to google.
  • Work out a catchy tagline for the product. “Never do the same thing twice with Groundhog!” “Fairy makes installing software magic!”
  • Name the various entities your product handles something appropriate to the tool name. “Fairy downloads software in packages it calls ‘toadstools’ that it installs in a root level cache '.magickingdom'. Troubleshoot your fairy config file with the ‘pixie' tool.” Sure, it may just be a jar or zip file but call it a 'toadstool'.
  • Of course, there’s XML in there somewhere.
  • Because your new tool is too simple / too complex / doesn’t use enough XML, someone will write an alternative tool that interoperates with your repo and data. They will give it a apropos name like “Gnome” or “Leprechaun”.
  • Launch a variant data format that makes up for the inadequacies of the previous one, probably packaging binaries. Call it something whimsical like ‘mushroom’ or ‘fungal infection’. Of course, you’ll need special tools to create and manage these packages. XML will be involved somehow.
  • People complain the old package management system doesn’t work and/or is too complex ...