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burntsushi • today at 10:44 AM • 6 replies • view on HN

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

[1]: https://github.com/BurntSushi/jiff

Replies

m463 • today at 2:35 PM

> 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)
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throw0101c • today at 10:48 AM

> 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

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?

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eb0la • today at 10:59 AM

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

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jacobobryant • today at 2:48 PM

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

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hk1337 • today at 12:12 PM

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

fnordpiglet • today at 3:11 PM

B1FF IS LIMITED TO 22 COLUMNZ