4 ms·

Am I the only one that read the title and thought this was Pacman the game? I am surprised they let you use the name for something else considering it's suppose

Am I the only one that read the title and thought this was Pacman the game? I am surprised they let you use the name for something else considering it's supposed to be highly copyright-protected. Sidenote: I am having trouble finding the link to an explanation what this really is. any help?

jdsnape 11y ago
pacman is the package manager for archlinux: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/pacman https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/pacman
laumars 11y ago
The game you're thinking of is 'Pac-Man' (hyphenated). This is a package management tool for ArchLinux. Similar to 'yum' for RHEL. Or Debians 'apt-*', 'dpkg' tools.
- aikah 11y ago
  It also work on Windows, it's what MSYS uses for package management, convenient to avoid having to install CYGIN or using virtualisation.
  - riffraff 11y ago
    msys uses pacman? Is there another msys than the one at mingw.org[0] ? I believe you but I just can't find any reference to pacman there. [0] http://www.mingw.org/wiki/msys http://www.mingw.org/wiki/msys
    - green7ea 11y ago
      I googled 'msys pacman' and it seems that msys2 uses pacman: http://sourceforge.net/p/msys2/wiki/MSYS2%20installation/ http://sourceforge.net/p/msys2/wiki/MSYS2%20installation/
    - kryptiskt 11y ago
      He means MSYS2 https://msys2.github.io/ https://msys2.github.io/ It's great, it has a wonderful collection of libs, sometimes it can feel a little bit too cutting edge, but after the stagnation of Mingw I'm not complaining about that.
  - laumars 11y ago
    It's open source software so it can (given enough time and motivation) be ported to whatever platform you wanted. Because of this I think there's a few other OSs / distro forks that also use pacman. But primarily, `pacman` is developed by ArchLinux maintainers for ArchLinux.
- fu86 11y ago
  It is, for sure, a little bit confusing :) http://p.fu86.de/1454938855-32650.png http://p.fu86.de/1454938855-32650.png
  - laumars 11y ago
    Not that confusing really - the two applications couldn't be more different in use. "Pacman" is abbreviated from "package manager" while "Pac-Man" is derived from "Puck Man", named so because the yellow avatar looked like a hockey puck. (the reason for the name change is quite interesting too[1]). While it's true that the ArchLinux devs do play on the name similarities (there's even an easter egg to turn the `pacman` progress bar into a little Pac-Man eating up ASCII pills[2]), I think most people who might confuse the two wouldn't be familiar with the package manager anyway. And those who are familiar with `pacman` are likely technical enough to tell the difference. [1] Renamed because of worries that some US audiences might vandalise the Puck into Fuck. [2] Put 'ILoveCandy' (without quotes) under the [options] in /etc/pacman.conf
cyphar 11y ago
Names aren't copyrighted, they're trademarked. And since: a) Arch Linux isn't selling pacman. b) I don't believe Namco still own a registered trademark for Pacman. And they probably don't make enough money from it for them to win a lawsuit about it (trademarks require a reasonable commercial interest in order to be protected). So there almost certainly isn't a legal issue. IANAL.
- koz1000 11y ago
  Namco is very involved with Pacman and still involved with arcade equipment based on it. Here's something my friends at Raw Thrills just introduced a little while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLvoCMHCrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLvoCMHCrI From what I've heard on the inside, Raw Thrills has been actively working on new Pacman games based on the original 1980 source code given to them by Namco. TLDR: They definitely still own the trademark and they are still making money on it.
- laumars 11y ago
  The trademark is also for 'Pac-Man' not 'pacman'.
  - zorked 11y ago
    That's why I can get away with selling my home-made "cocacola" without legal issues.
- pidg 11y ago
  Bandai/Namco certainly do hold multiple registered trademarks on PAC-MAN, at least in Europe. They cover not just the video game side[1], but everything from kitchen appliances[2] to lotteries[3] and even beer[4]. [1] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU004977906 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU004977906 [2] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU000361600 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU000361600 [3] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU003574076 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU003574076 [4] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU008125031 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU008125031
- 11y ago
buster 11y ago
I thought the same. It didn't occur to me that this wasn't about the game..

jdsnape 11y ago

pacman is the package manager for archlinux: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/pacman https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/pacman

laumars 11y ago

The game you're thinking of is 'Pac-Man' (hyphenated). This is a package management tool for ArchLinux. Similar to 'yum' for RHEL. Or Debians 'apt-*', 'dpkg' tools.

aikah 11y ago
It also work on Windows, it's what MSYS uses for package management, convenient to avoid having to install CYGIN or using virtualisation.
- riffraff 11y ago
  msys uses pacman? Is there another msys than the one at mingw.org[0] ? I believe you but I just can't find any reference to pacman there. [0] http://www.mingw.org/wiki/msys http://www.mingw.org/wiki/msys
  - green7ea 11y ago
    I googled 'msys pacman' and it seems that msys2 uses pacman: http://sourceforge.net/p/msys2/wiki/MSYS2%20installation/ http://sourceforge.net/p/msys2/wiki/MSYS2%20installation/
  - kryptiskt 11y ago
    He means MSYS2 https://msys2.github.io/ https://msys2.github.io/ It's great, it has a wonderful collection of libs, sometimes it can feel a little bit too cutting edge, but after the stagnation of Mingw I'm not complaining about that.
- laumars 11y ago
  It's open source software so it can (given enough time and motivation) be ported to whatever platform you wanted. Because of this I think there's a few other OSs / distro forks that also use pacman. But primarily, `pacman` is developed by ArchLinux maintainers for ArchLinux.
fu86 11y ago
It is, for sure, a little bit confusing :) http://p.fu86.de/1454938855-32650.png http://p.fu86.de/1454938855-32650.png
- laumars 11y ago
  Not that confusing really - the two applications couldn't be more different in use. "Pacman" is abbreviated from "package manager" while "Pac-Man" is derived from "Puck Man", named so because the yellow avatar looked like a hockey puck. (the reason for the name change is quite interesting too[1]). While it's true that the ArchLinux devs do play on the name similarities (there's even an easter egg to turn the `pacman` progress bar into a little Pac-Man eating up ASCII pills[2]), I think most people who might confuse the two wouldn't be familiar with the package manager anyway. And those who are familiar with `pacman` are likely technical enough to tell the difference. [1] Renamed because of worries that some US audiences might vandalise the Puck into Fuck. [2] Put 'ILoveCandy' (without quotes) under the [options] in /etc/pacman.conf

cyphar 11y ago

Names aren't copyrighted, they're trademarked. And since: a) Arch Linux isn't selling pacman. b) I don't believe Namco still own a registered trademark for Pacman. And they probably don't make enough money from it for them to win a lawsuit about it (trademarks require a reasonable commercial interest in order to be protected). So there almost certainly isn't a legal issue. IANAL.

koz1000 11y ago
Namco is very involved with Pacman and still involved with arcade equipment based on it. Here's something my friends at Raw Thrills just introduced a little while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLvoCMHCrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLvoCMHCrI From what I've heard on the inside, Raw Thrills has been actively working on new Pacman games based on the original 1980 source code given to them by Namco. TLDR: They definitely still own the trademark and they are still making money on it.
laumars 11y ago
The trademark is also for 'Pac-Man' not 'pacman'.
- zorked 11y ago
  That's why I can get away with selling my home-made "cocacola" without legal issues.
pidg 11y ago
Bandai/Namco certainly do hold multiple registered trademarks on PAC-MAN, at least in Europe. They cover not just the video game side[1], but everything from kitchen appliances[2] to lotteries[3] and even beer[4]. [1] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU004977906 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU004977906 [2] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU000361600 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU000361600 [3] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU003574076 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU003574076 [4] https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU008125031 https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU008125031
11y ago

buster 11y ago

I thought the same. It didn't occur to me that this wasn't about the game..