[ros-users] Name conflicts for new software packages

Nicholas Butko nbutko at ucsd.edu
Mon Jan 10 15:20:19 UTC 2011


This is not directly related to ROS or PCL, but I hoped that people on the mailing list would have some insights.

When you are creating or releasing a new software package (e.g. ROS, PCL, OpenNI, etc.), how much do you worry about the name you choose conflicting with existing software packages or systems? Do you worry about trademarks and things like that? Is it bad to have any existing software package with your same name? Or is it enough for your software package to have a different purpose / domain than previous packages? 

I know for trademarks, they are only valid in limited domains. But I don't know if "Software packages" is a sufficiently limited domain, or if, e.g. "Software packages for machine perception" is more of the correct scope.

For example, a quick google search for "PCL" return "Printer Command Language," a printing protocol developed by HP. Is this something you worried about for PCL? 

Does anyone else have experience with such issues?

Thanks for any help.

--Nick 


More information about the ros-users mailing list