Bug 17544 – Rename testkjs since it's not just a test tool (but "js" is already taken by Mozilla)

• Status: RESOLVED
• Resolution: FIXED
• Component: JavaScriptCore

[Sam Weinig]

It's about time we rename this baby.  I am going with 'js'.

[Sam Weinig]

Created attachment 19366 [details]
patch

I need to fix VS before landing this.

[Mark Rowe (bdash)]

I don't think that using "js" as the binary name is a good idea.  SpiderMonkey's binary is already named "js" so I think this would introduce unnecessary ambiguity.

[Anders Carlsson]

Comment on attachment 19366 [details]
patch

r=me

[Alp Toker]

Some people were concerned about 'js' conflicting but as far as I can tell from the Debian package list, a good way of finding out if anything under the sun puts a command in the path, 'js' isn't taken.

So this change looks good.

'jscore' would be OK too and may help avoid confusion with other internal 'js' commands, but this isn't a big deal. The other suggestion, 'jsc', is taken by the JScript compiler and should be avoided.

[Mark Rowe (bdash)]

That just goes to show that Debian doesn't know everything ;-)  The MacPorts "spidermonkey" package installs a binary named "js".  The Debian folk have renamed it to "smjs", presumably because they felt "js" was too generic.

[Mark Rowe (bdash)]

Actually, SpiderMonkey on Debian *does* create /usr/bin/js.  It's created using their "alternatives" system so it is created as a symlink to /usr/bin/smjs.  Going with "js" would mean Debian would need to rename the binary for their packages.

[Alp Toker]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Actually, SpiderMonkey on Debian *does* create /usr/bin/js.  It's created using
> their "alternatives" system so it is created as a symlink to /usr/bin/smjs. 
> Going with "js" would mean Debian would need to rename the binary for their
> packages.
> 

Well spotted, picking a less ambiguous name would indeed be useful for a portable tool like this. I'll take back my comment about 'js' being a good name.

[Darin Adler]

Here are some suggestions I have for names (some good, some obviously bad):

    - How about "jsc" for JavaScriptCore? If people think the "c" stands for compiler, it's no big problem because over time we'll be using more and more compiler technology, although it might make them look for the "a.out" file.
    - Or "jsx" for "JavaScript execute"?
    - Or "xjs" for "execute JavaScript"?
    - Or "webkit-js"?
    - Or "jscript"?
    - Or "javascript"?
    - Or "JavaScript"?

[Maciej Stachowiak]

More suggestions:

- jscjs
- sqfjs
- jssqf

[Maciej Stachowiak]

Created attachment 21707 [details]
a newer attempt

This does not do any file splits or make a new directory for the command-line tool, but it does rename it from testkjs to jsc, and updates all build systems and scripts.

[Cameron Zwarich (cpst)]

This was done in r34566 and some later revisions.