IF I RECALL CORRECTLY

Justin B Rye [MAIL] 08-Apr-07

(Non-Geek Escape Route)

Contrary to occasional alarmist reports, there are plenty of Toy Story character names left to use on future releases of Debian GNU/Linux before there's any need to switch to a different namespace.  Indeed, I'd like to propose throwing one away on something dumb.  No, I'm not talking about dubbing Debian's Experimental pool Scud (after Sid's dog); it's much sillier than that.

As I remember it, there never was an official Debian 1.0 release; Infomagic CDs with this number were mistakenly shipped, but that was a development version with Release-Critical bugs (hence the release of Buzz as Debian 1.1).

So my rididulous concept is that a name should be retrospectively conferred on the nonexistent/deprecated Debian 1.0 Release Candidate: RC, after the Remote Controlled car in Toy Story 1.  It was a little buggy.

Appendix A - names used so far

RELEASE DATE NAME GLOSS
0.01+ 1993+ N/A 0.x releases were not given names
1.1 1996 Buzz Buzz Lightyear
1.2 1996 Rex the tyrannosaur (the first version I saw)
1.3 1997 Bo the shepherdess
2.0 1998 Hamm the piggybank
2.1 1999 Slink Slinky-dog (by now I was a SysAdmin)
2.2 2000 Potato Mr Potatohead
3.0 2002 Woody the cowboy - Stable when this was first written
3.1 2005 Sarge the soldier - now Oldstable
4.0 2007 Etch the etch-a-sketch - the current Stable
TBA 2009? Lenny binoculars - Testing, to be released when ready
N/A never Sid the toy-destroying kid - Unstable

Appendix B - some other unused Toy Story Names

NAME GLOSS DRAWBACKS
MrSpell the speak'n'spell, TS1 minor character
Mike toy tape-recorder, TS1 minor character
Shark squeaky rubber toy, TS1 minor character
Magic magic 8-ball, TS1 not to be counted on
Alien three-eyes, TS1 credited, never so addressed
Hockey Puck anthropomorphic puck, TS1 so addressed, not his name
Mrs Potatohead end of TS1 no convenient name
Snake the snake, TS1 ever named?
Robot the robot, TS1 ever named?
Sally tea-party doll, TS1 decapitated by Sid
Babyface one of Sid's, TS1 never so named
Heimlich caterpillar, TS2 can people spell this?
Jessie the cowgirl, TS2 yodelling
Wheezy Tux-lookalike, TS2 we'll be using Hurd by then!
Stinky Pete the prospector, TS2 bad guy
Bullseye horse, TS2 non-speaking part
Rocky Gibraltar wrestler figurine, TS2 minor character
Troll pink-haired doll, TS2 all too appropriate
Barbie tourguide, TS2 Mattel are highly litigious
Zurg "evil" emperor, TS2 for World Domination release

Appendix C - important Debian-Policy caveat

Getting to name the next Testing branch is pretty much the only perk a Release Manager gets, so all debates about such issues should be clearly flagged as unofficial.

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