Naming and Packaging Strategy for the DataLab Ecosystem

[PierreRaybaut]

Naming and Packaging Strategy for the DataLab Ecosystem

To clarify and future-proof the structure of the DataLab software ecosystem, we are adopting a unified naming strategy based on the datalab prefix. This change ensures consistency, enhances visibility, and avoids legacy references to the former cdl namespace (historically tied to Codra).

✅ New Component Naming Convention

Component	Role	PyPI Package	Python Import Name	GitHub Repository
🖥️ GUI Application	Main graphical application	datalab-platform	datalab	DataLab
⚙️ Processing Engine	Core computations + I/O + XML-RPC client	sigima	sigima	sigima
🧰 GUI Toolkit / Base	Reusable widgets, config, logs, helpers...	sigimax	sigimax	sigimax

These three packages define the foundation of the DataLab ecosystem: one for the GUI (app), one for headless computation and remote control (processing), and one for GUI infrastructure and base functionality (tools).

🔄 Correspondence with Existing Packages

Old Package Name	New PyPI Package Name	Rationale
cdl	datalab-platform	The main GUI application package is renamed
cdlclient	(removed)	Replaced by internal client logic in sigima and widgets in sigimax
(new)	sigima	New package extracted from cdl for I/O, computation, and XML-RPC client
(new)	sigimax	New package extracted from cdl for GUI base logic

🌍 Benefits

• Clear ownership and coherence across the ecosystem
• No reliance on legacy namespaces (cdl)
• Easier to discover and reuse individual components
• Ready for public distribution on PyPI and GitHub

This new structure also prepares the ecosystem for broader adoption, integration in other scientific environments, and simplified maintenance workflows.