Description of problem: "yum install" only installs packages if the case exactly matches. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Search for "x11 devel", see "libX11-devel" 2. Type "yum install libx11-devel" Actual results: Can't install package (not found). Need to type "yum install libX11-devel" (note uppercase "X") to install the package successfully. Expected results: 1. yum first tries to match the exact case 2. If no exact case match is found, yum does a case insensitive match 3. If a case insensitive match is found, yum interactively asks me to install it Additional info: I'm not the first one experiencing this issue. Here's a selection of relevant mailing list threads about this issue (I'm surprised that a bug for this doesn't exist yet, but maybe I just used the wrong search terms here): 2007: http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhl-devel-list/2007-November/msg02178.html 2008: http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-packaging/2008-July/msg00102.html 2011: http://fedora.12.n6.nabble.com/Any-arguments-for-keeping-Yum-case-sensitive-td2465433.html
Just to clarify from re-reading the mailing list thread arguments: - I don't expect a technical perfect implementation for every character set - I'm only expecting the ASCII characters A-Z to be treated as a-z - Only if there is NO exact case match and a SINGLE case insensitive match - If need be, only if ALL (ASCII) characters in the command line are lowercase (e.g. if I type "yum install LIBx11-devel", it can fail) - Yum can interactively ask me to confirm if this is what I want to do - If Yum is not run interactively, it doesn't need to provide this behavior - If there is a non-ASCII character in the package name to be installed, this behavior also doesn't have to work
Created attachment 709969 [details] Make "yum install" partially case-insensitive.
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Reopening, still an issue in Fedora 20.
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Still an issue in Fedora 22.
We don't want to support that in DNF. The package name should and is unique. You can search for the package in list and search command case insensitively.
There should at least be an option in dnf.conf to provide case insensitivity feature. I was burned several times because of this issue.
Having hit this case sensitivity issue several times over the years, I decided to finally file a bug about it. Of course, it already exists as here, so I'm not filing a duplicate. > We don't want to support that in DNF. Why? What's the reason? Currently dnf/yum is a bit user-hostle by _knowing_ what the user meant, but not providing a way for the computer to fix it. When doing user research (as a UI/UX designer), we often start sessions saying that when something software does is unexpected, it's likely that the computer is in the wrong, not the person using the computer. I think that applies here, especially considering this problem coming up in multiple forums and mailing lists over the years. As it stands, the computer taunts the user with the correct answer _that it knows_ and then expects the user to redo everything exactly, except with the exact case that dnf/yum mentions. This is extra busywork for humans and something the computer can easily perform. Ideally, dnf/yum would fix the problem and either run with the corrected package name (especially in the cases where there's only 1 possible match) or at least have a confirmation prompt with the corrected package (if there might even be two packages with similar names but with different cases... but I doubt case-clashing packages even exist). (FWIW: I've heard this same complaint from community folks using Fedora & CentOS as well as Red Hat customers. It's minor in the grand scheme of things, but it's one of those small "papercuts" that adds up.)
Here's a design-related article talking about taking input from the user and interpreting what they meant: http://ui-patterns.com/patterns/ForgivingFormat Excerpt: > ## Solution > > Allow users to enter text in their own format and syntax, and let the system interpret it intelligently > > Let users focus on getting things done rather than typing in things correctly. Lower the barrier for users to interact by allowing a broad spectrum of formats and syntaxes to be inputted. Consider nudging users to provide more easily interpreted information by paying attention to how you ask for input. > > Transfer the problem inputting data from a user interface problem to a programming problem. Behind the scenes, an interpreter checks for different word patterns, and converts them into a formatted value. > ## Rationale > > Using the forgiving format pattern saves space and decreases the barrier for the user to interact with the system.