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Comment by billfruit | Hacker News Reader

But isn't red hat calling their version 'pcp-dstat' and not simply 'dstat', so they aren't shipping with the exact same name.

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They install a symlink from plain "dstat" to pcp-dstat. That's the exact same name part and plausibly objectionable.

That is done so that existing scripts keep working. Nobody complains about the LLVM linker installing itself as /usr/bin/ld, or systemd providing /sbin/init, do they?

I understand why they did it, but also why the author is complaining about it.

I am not really complaining, maybe unsatisfied of the direction it took and the consequences to other distributions without having a say.

But maybe people fancy the new PCP Dstat and accept their losses. In any case, money rules the world, Open Source ran by volunteers is dying and becomes less and less attractive.

Actually, yes they did. The use of /sbin/init was something that came up during the Debian Hoo-Hah. The conclusion was that it should be a symbolic link, and that there should be distinct packages providing that link and providing the real executable program image file that it points to.

* https://packages.debian.org/search?suite=jessie&searchon=con...

That's exactly what pcp-dstat does. /use/bin/dstat is a symbolic link.

The entire principle of a GNU based system is that everything is a reimplementation of original Unix tools with the same names but different provenances.

Like I said in a sibling comment, I understand why they did it, but also why the author is complaining about it. :-)

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