Walter Bright Wrote:

> Because gcc on linux predefines "linux", not "Linux".

Please change the version identifier from linux to Linux.

D is a chance to fix stuff wrong or inconsistent in other languages. C compilers may use inconsistent naming like __APPLE__, __MACH__, __linux, _WIN32, _WIN64, __FreeBSD__, etc. Why not take the opportunity to fix the inconsistency in addition to all the other improvements D has?

The argument that it should be linux because of gcc does not apply to those who come from other languages. If someone is learning D after only knowing Java or C#, and they want to use versioning, linux is harder to remember for them. I don't care how gcc does it. I've never really used gcc. (Might even be harder to remember for people who used C a lot.) Is it more important to be consistent with gcc or with other D identifiers?

Plus, how many people want it to be linux instead of Linux? From what I've seen, it seems the majority would prefer it being Linux.

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Jordan Miner <jminer2613@nospam.students.pcci.edu> wrote:
> Walter Bright Wrote:
>
>> Because gcc on linux predefines "linux", not "Linux".
>
> Please change the version identifier from linux to Linux.
>

I realise I probably did my part to spike this discussion.

However, given the complaints Walter got from adding the Posix identifier, removing "linux" is obviously a really bad idea.

But I must say I think "Linux" should be added, and "linux" be there for legacy reasons, like "darwin" I guess.

-Tomas

Tomas Lindquist Olsen, el 16 de abril a las 10:46 me escribiste:
> On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Jordan Miner <jminer2613@nospam.students.pcci.edu> wrote:
> > Walter Bright Wrote:
> >
> >> Because gcc on linux predefines "linux", not "Linux".
> >
> > Please change the version identifier from linux to Linux.
> >
> 
> I realise I probably did my part to spike this discussion.
> 
> However, given the complaints Walter got from adding the Posix identifier, removing "linux" is obviously a really bad idea.
> 
> But I must say I think "Linux" should be added, and "linux" be there for legacy reasons, like "darwin" I guess.

This seems like a reasonable tradeoff, issuing a deprecation warning when the legacy version identifiers are used can be a good idea too, so people can update the code eventually and the redundant identifiers can be removed in the future.

-- 
Leandro Lucarella (luca) | Blog colectivo: http://www.mazziblog.com.ar/blog/
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Tomas Lindquist Olsen Wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Jordan Miner <jminer2613@nospam.students.pcci.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Please change the version identifier from linux to Linux.
> >
> 
> I realise I probably did my part to spike this discussion.
> 
> However, given the complaints Walter got from adding the Posix identifier, removing "linux" is obviously a really bad idea.
> 
> But I must say I think "Linux" should be added, and "linux" be there for legacy reasons, like "darwin" I guess.
> 
> -Tomas

Yes, I definitely agree. By "change", I meant:

- Add Linux as an identifier and deprecate linux.
- Then, after a long enough time for everyone to switch to using Linux, remove linux.