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by burntsushi6 hours ago |
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upvoteby m4632 hours ago|
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> Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine.

collisions, lol

  % apt-cache search biff
  biff - a mail notification tool
  gnubiff - mail notification program for GNOME (and others)
  wmbiff - Dockable app that displays information about mailboxes
  xlbiff - mail notification pop-up with configurable message scans
(along with 9 more matches without biff in command name)
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upvoteby dredmorbius1 hours ago|
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Those are:

1. Not precise name collisions.

2. All mail-notification utilities, as was the original biff.

And since we're mentioning Debian, it has a policy requiring unique names within the Debian archive to be unique. Precedence goes to the earlier software packaged. Installed programs must also have unique names within a given system. The datetime Swiss army knife utility discussed here violates both policies.

As Debian policy is used both for Debian and derived distros (see: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#De...> for a partial listing), it has considerable influence.

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upvoteby burntsushi1 hours ago|
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I've renamed the project to bttf :-)
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upvoteby dredmorbius1 hours ago|
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That works on Debian ;-)

<https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=btff>

Might want to ping the mods (hn@ycombinator.com) to update this submission title.

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upvoteby throw0101c6 hours ago|
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> Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. The name Biff was just too good to pass up.

So if I do an "apt install biff" on Debian (or Ubuntu) what will happen?

* https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=biff

If I type in "biff" on a Debian CLI, what should I expect the behaviour of the program that is executed to be? Will it be something about mail or time?

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upvoteby dredmorbius1 hours ago|
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Per Debian policy and precedence of the email notification utility, you'll install biff, the command-line email notification utility:

<https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#the-...>

<https://packages.debian.org/trixie/biff>

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upvoteby abrowne2 hours ago|
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I know that if you want `fd` (https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) you need to `apt install fd-find` and which installs the binary `fdfind` (!).
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upvoteby burntsushi6 hours ago|
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I honestly don't know. Which is... Not Great.
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upvoteby eb0la6 hours ago|
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It was a great opportunity to name a unix tool "mcfly" or just "Marty" for time manipulation. Better luck next time, I guess.
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upvoteby dredmorbius1 hours ago|
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docbrown would be more appropriate, as the character who's actually doing the time manipulation.
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upvoteby burntsushi6 hours ago|
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That's... not terrible. Biff isn't exactly popular (yet?), so a name change isn't out of the question. Both of those names (and `biff`) are already taken on crates.io. Which is maybe not a huge problem. IDK. Naming is hard.
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upvoteby Terretta5 hours ago|
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https://crates.io/search?q=bttf

// backronym bttf stands for biff time to format

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upvoteby burntsushi1 hours ago|
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You win the naming contest. The project has been renamed: https://github.com/BurntSushi/bttf/pull/14
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upvoteby burntsushi1 hours ago|
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@dang - Could you update the post title please to say "bttf" instead of "Biff"? Thank you!
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upvoteby sphars24 minutes ago|
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I don't think @ tags have any effect on HN, you'll want to email the mods directly: hn@ycombinator.com
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upvoteby burntsushi5 hours ago|
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I like this
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upvoteby hnlmorg56 minutes ago|
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This is the fastest rebranding after a Show HN I think I’ve seen haha
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upvoteby christoff123 hours ago|
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also: back to the future
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upvoteby nicce1 hours ago|
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Intersting to notice that the name has been changed now when reading the post 12h late :-D
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upvoteby bbkane1 hours ago|
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Burntsushi to the future
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upvoteby mehackernewsacc59 minutes ago|
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Naming is hard, sure, but doing some due diligence up front to see what's already being used isn't very difficult. Very neat tool.
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upvoteby burntsushi13 minutes ago|
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I did. I always do. I just missed this one. Or if I saw it, it didn't register for me and felt like it was just an old archaic tool. Which... is probably still true, but I under-estimated its mindshare. Just an honest unknown unknown.
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upvoteby jacobobryant2 hours ago|
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As the author of a different project also named Biff, I do have to warn you that half the comments on your HN posts will be people quoting back to the future--though I haven't decided yet if that's annoying or an engagement hack!

[1] https://github.com/jacobobryant/biff

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upvoteby burntsushi1 hours ago|
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Back to the Future jokes never get old. I love it.

I still want one of those hover boards!

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upvoteby hk13374 hours ago|
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Griff is still available for future projects or Buford if you create a throwback project.
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upvoteby fnordpiglet1 hours ago|
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B1FF IS LIMITED TO 22 COLUMNZ
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