Why import SystemPackage instead of import System?

[fumoboy007]

Why is the target named SystemPackage instead of System?

[jabwd]

Im guessing its an umbrella import around many System{Suffix} targets to be able to better separate certain platform specifics in different modules. As you can see there is also a "SystemInternals" target, which implies that System in itself is only a prefix to many more possible targets if required/desired.

[milseman]

It's a workaround for current compiler limitations. If you have a binary System module available, as we do on Darwin and might have on other platforms in the future, then a System module from a package would conflict with that.

In the future the compiler might support module namespaces, which would allow us to name the module System in a package namespace distinct from one in a SDK or toolchain namespace. Alternatively or additionally, we might ship a binary System module for all platforms, in which case the package build would exist strictly for backwards deployment or prototyping.

[milseman]

I'm going to mark this as answered (i.e. closed), but feel free to ask further questions about this topic here.

[milseman]

Added to the FAQ: #18