PEP 541: Package Index Name Retention

Work in progress. Number placeholder and problem statement.

pep-0541.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+PEP: 541
+Title: Package Index Name Retention
+Version: $Revision$
+Last-Modified: $Date$
+Author: Łukasz Langa <lukasz@langa.pl>
+Status: Draft
+Type: Process
+Content-Type: text/x-rst
+Created: 12-January-2017
+
+
+Abstract
+========
+
+This PEP proposes an extension to the Terms of Use [1]_ of the Package
+Index [2]_, clarifying expectations of package owners regarding
+ownership of a package name on the Package Index, specifically with
+regards to conflict resolution.
+
+Existing package repositories such as CPAN [3]_, NPM [4]_, and
+GitHub [5]_ will be investigated as prior art in this field.
+
+
+Rationale
+=========
+
+Given that package names on the Index are sharing a single flat
+namespace, a unique name is a finite resource.
+
+
+Specification
+=============
+
+TBD.
+
+
+Implementation
+==============
+
+TBD.
+
+
+Rejected Proposals
+==================
+
+The original approach was to hope for the best and solve issues as they
+arise without written policy.  This is not sustainable.  The lack of
+generally available guidelines in writing on package name conflict
+resolution is causing unnecessary tensions.  From the perspective of
+users, decisions made by the Package Index maintainers without written
+guidelines may appear arbitrary.  From the perspective of the Package
+Index maintainers, solving name conflicts is a stressful task due to
+risk of unintentional harm due to lack of defined policy.
+
+TBD.
+
+
+References
+==========
+
+.. [1] Terms of Use of the Python Package Index
+   (https://pypi.org/policy/terms-of-use/)
+
+.. [2] The Python Package Index
+   (https://pypi.python.org/)
+
+.. [3] The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
+   (http://www.cpan.org/)
+
+.. [4] Node Package Manager
+   (https://www.npmjs.com/package/left-pad)
+
+.. [5] GitHub
+   (https://github.com/)
+
+
+Copyright
+=========
+
+This document has been placed in the public domain.
+
+
+Acknowledgements
+================
+
+The many participants of the Distutils and Catalog SIGs for their
+ideas over the years.
+
+
+..
+   Local Variables:
+   mode: indented-text
+   indent-tabs-mode: nil
+   sentence-end-double-space: t
+   fill-column: 70
+   End: