Help with module naming, please.

saberworks has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

During the past few months I was tasked with writing an extensible WebDAV server (running on mod_perl). The intention of my employer is to release the modules on CPAN. Before I started, I went to cpan and ran a search for "Apache::DAV" in "All." Nothing came up, so I figured it was safe to use that namespace.

Fast forward, it's time to release the module, and someone did another search, but this time, instead of using "All," he selected "Modules." Surprise, surprise, there was something in there called Apache::DAV which hasn't been updated since 2002.

None of the actual files in the list seem to conflict with the one I have (Apache/DAV.pm).

I am wondering what the proper thing to do is. Should I rename my module (any suggestions?) or try to submit it as is?

Thanks in advance.

Comment on Help with module naming, please.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Help with module naming, please. by CountZero (Bishop) on Jul 19, 2006 at 18:56 UTC
Or maybe call your module Apache::WebDAV? CountZero "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law	[reply]
Re: Help with module naming, please. by swampyankee (Parson) on Jul 19, 2006 at 18:01 UTC
Rename it, in the event somebody is using or maintaining Apache::DAV emc e^(π√−1) = −1	[reply]
Re: Help with module naming, please. by talexb (Chancellor) on Jul 19, 2006 at 18:13 UTC
Contact the author and see how active the module is. Maybe they wouldn't mind relinquishing the namespace. It's hard to know for sure, without getting a sense of how much use the original module is getting. Alex / talexb / Toronto "Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds	[reply]
Re: Help with module naming, please. by duckyd (Hermit) on Jul 19, 2006 at 19:24 UTC
perl.modules-authors on nntp.perl.org is a good resource for these types of questions. They can probably suggest a good alternative name, or help you contact the maintainer if you have trouble doing so.	[reply]
Re: Help with module naming, please. by spiritway (Vicar) on Jul 19, 2006 at 18:18 UTC
I don't think you'd be able to upload using that name, since someone else has already reserved the namespace. While it's possible to try to contact the original developer/maintainer, that wouldn't necessarily solve your problem because people may be using that module. Suddenly replacing it with an entirely different one would break their software. IIRC, CPAN recommends reserving the name first, then developing and uploading the module. Also, they recommend running it by some Perl-based groups first (PM, comp.lang.perl.modules, etc.) to get some input. Among other things, you might get ideas for useful names. You might also be told about existing modules that already do what you propose, etc. Update: Thanks to [id://grinder] for pointing out that there isn't a reservation of namespace on CPAN; that people just play nice there.	[reply]
Re: Help with module naming, please. by Khen1950fx (Canon) on Jul 20, 2006 at 03:05 UTC
Great idea! We need more modules for WebDAV. There is a WebDAV server on CPAN called HTTP::DAVServer. Check to see that your work isn't the same. If not, then how about HTTP::WebDAV::Server2? Or Apache::WebDAV::Server2? I just recently did a short writeup on WebDAV. See: Re^2: Is there a method in LWP that lets me get a listing of all files available in a URL directory? For an explanation of PerlDAV see: http://webdav.org/perldav/ WebDAV News: http://www.webdav.org/news.html WebDAV Resources Homepage: http://www.webdav.org I'm looking forward to seeing your module. Maybe you could post some of the code as an RFC. Good Luck!	[reply]