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Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. The name Biff was just too good to pass up. The name comes from the fact that Biff is a character in

Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. The name Biff was just too good to pass up. The name comes from the fact that Biff is a character in Back to the Future, and it rhymes with Jiff[1]. Jiff is the datetime library that Biff uses. "Make like a tree and get out of here!" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Jabplo2pZU https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Jabplo2pZU [1]: https://github.com/BurntSushi/jiff https://github.com/BurntSushi/jiff

throw0101c 5mo ago
> Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. The name Biff was just too good to pass up. So if I do an "apt install biff" on Debian (or Ubuntu) what will happen? * https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=biff https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=biff If I type in "biff" on a Debian CLI, what should I expect the behaviour of the program that is executed to be? Will it be something about mail or time?
- burntsushi 5mo ago
  I honestly don't know. Which is... Not Great.
- abrowne 5mo ago
  I know that if you want `fd` (https://github.com/sharkdp/fd https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) you need to `apt install fd-find` and which installs the binary `fdfind` (!).
- dredmorbius 5mo ago
  Per Debian policy and precedence of the email notification utility, you'll install biff, the command-line email notification utility: <https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#the-package-name https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#the-...> <https://packages.debian.org/trixie/biff https://packages.debian.org/trixie/biff>
eb0la 5mo ago
It was a great opportunity to name a unix tool "mcfly" or just "Marty" for time manipulation. Better luck next time, I guess.
- burntsushi 5mo ago
  That's... not terrible. Biff isn't exactly popular (yet?), so a name change isn't out of the question. Both of those names (and `biff`) are already taken on crates.io. Which is maybe not a huge problem. IDK. Naming is hard.
  - Terretta 5mo ago
    https://crates.io/search?q=bttf https://crates.io/search?q=bttf // backronym bttf stands for biff time to format
    - burntsushi 5mo ago
      I like this
      - christoff12 5mo ago
        also: back to the future
        bbkane 5mo ago
        Burntsushi to the future
        nicce 5mo ago
        Intersting to notice that the name has been changed now when reading the post 12h late :-D
      - hnlmorg 5mo ago
        This is the fastest rebranding after a Show HN I think I’ve seen haha
hk1337 5mo ago
Griff is still available for future projects or Buford if you create a throwback project.
m463 5mo ago
> Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. collisions, lol % apt-cache search biff biff - a mail notification tool gnubiff - mail notification program for GNOME (and others) wmbiff - Dockable app that displays information about mailboxes xlbiff - mail notification pop-up with configurable message scans (along with 9 more matches without biff in command name)
- dredmorbius 5mo ago
  Those are: 1. Not precise name collisions. 2. All mail-notification utilities, as was the original biff. And since we're mentioning Debian, it has a policy requiring unique names within the Debian archive to be unique. Precedence goes to the earlier software packaged. Installed programs must also have unique names within a given system. The datetime Swiss army knife utility discussed here violates both policies. As Debian policy is used both for Debian and derived distros (see: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#Debian-based https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#De...> for a partial listing), it has considerable influence.
  - burntsushi 5mo ago
    I've renamed the project to bttf :-)
    - dredmorbius 5mo ago
      That works on Debian ;-) <https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=bttf https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=bttf> Might want to ping the mods (hn@ycombinator.com) to update this submission title. Edit: I'd typoed "bttf" as "btff" initially. Corrected shows partial but not exact matches on "libttfautohint1" and variants.
jacobobryant 5mo ago
As the author of a different project also named Biff, I do have to warn you that half the comments on your HN posts will be people quoting back to the future--though I haven't decided yet if that's annoying or an engagement hack! [1] https://github.com/jacobobryant/biff https://github.com/jacobobryant/biff
- burntsushi 5mo ago
  Back to the Future jokes never get old. I love it. I still want one of those hover boards!
  - ranger_danger 5mo ago
    hellooo short-shorts https://preview.redd.it/75ojrs5mzfcg1.jpeg?width=1024&auto=webp&s=13facdee3f57e17563800ce7303768d884a5d9b6 https://preview.redd.it/75ojrs5mzfcg1.jpeg?width=1024&auto=w...
fnordpiglet 5mo ago
B1FF IS LIMITED TO 22 COLUMNZ

throw0101c 5mo ago

> Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. The name Biff was just too good to pass up. So if I do an "apt install biff" on Debian (or Ubuntu) what will happen? * https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=biff https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=biff If I type in "biff" on a Debian CLI, what should I expect the behaviour of the program that is executed to be? Will it be something about mail or time?

burntsushi 5mo ago
I honestly don't know. Which is... Not Great.
abrowne 5mo ago
I know that if you want `fd` (https://github.com/sharkdp/fd https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) you need to `apt install fd-find` and which installs the binary `fdfind` (!).
dredmorbius 5mo ago
Per Debian policy and precedence of the email notification utility, you'll install biff, the command-line email notification utility: <https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#the-package-name https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#the-...> <https://packages.debian.org/trixie/biff https://packages.debian.org/trixie/biff>

eb0la 5mo ago

It was a great opportunity to name a unix tool "mcfly" or just "Marty" for time manipulation. Better luck next time, I guess.

burntsushi 5mo ago
That's... not terrible. Biff isn't exactly popular (yet?), so a name change isn't out of the question. Both of those names (and `biff`) are already taken on crates.io. Which is maybe not a huge problem. IDK. Naming is hard.
- Terretta 5mo ago
  https://crates.io/search?q=bttf https://crates.io/search?q=bttf // backronym bttf stands for biff time to format
  - burntsushi 5mo ago
    I like this
    - christoff12 5mo ago
      also: back to the future
      - bbkane 5mo ago
        Burntsushi to the future
      - nicce 5mo ago
        Intersting to notice that the name has been changed now when reading the post 12h late :-D
    - hnlmorg 5mo ago
      This is the fastest rebranding after a Show HN I think I’ve seen haha

hk1337 5mo ago

Griff is still available for future projects or Buford if you create a throwback project.

m463 5mo ago

> Yeah the name collision is unfortunate, but probably fine. collisions, lol % apt-cache search biff biff - a mail notification tool gnubiff - mail notification program for GNOME (and others) wmbiff - Dockable app that displays information about mailboxes xlbiff - mail notification pop-up with configurable message scans (along with 9 more matches without biff in command name)

dredmorbius 5mo ago
Those are: 1. Not precise name collisions. 2. All mail-notification utilities, as was the original biff. And since we're mentioning Debian, it has a policy requiring unique names within the Debian archive to be unique. Precedence goes to the earlier software packaged. Installed programs must also have unique names within a given system. The datetime Swiss army knife utility discussed here violates both policies. As Debian policy is used both for Debian and derived distros (see: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#Debian-based https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#De...> for a partial listing), it has considerable influence.
- burntsushi 5mo ago
  I've renamed the project to bttf :-)
  - dredmorbius 5mo ago
    That works on Debian ;-) <https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=bttf https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=bttf> Might want to ping the mods (hn@ycombinator.com) to update this submission title. Edit: I'd typoed "bttf" as "btff" initially. Corrected shows partial but not exact matches on "libttfautohint1" and variants.

jacobobryant 5mo ago

As the author of a different project also named Biff, I do have to warn you that half the comments on your HN posts will be people quoting back to the future--though I haven't decided yet if that's annoying or an engagement hack! [1] https://github.com/jacobobryant/biff https://github.com/jacobobryant/biff

burntsushi 5mo ago
Back to the Future jokes never get old. I love it. I still want one of those hover boards!
- ranger_danger 5mo ago
  hellooo short-shorts https://preview.redd.it/75ojrs5mzfcg1.jpeg?width=1024&auto=webp&s=13facdee3f57e17563800ce7303768d884a5d9b6 https://preview.redd.it/75ojrs5mzfcg1.jpeg?width=1024&auto=w...

fnordpiglet 5mo ago

B1FF IS LIMITED TO 22 COLUMNZ