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Re: dfsg bit in the package name



On Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:42:09 +0100, Tomasz Muras wrote:

> Is there any preference/reasoning for using any particular symbol that
> joins "dfsg" bit with the package name? I can see that different
> packages use a different format, here are some quick stats from packages
> in unstable (with the counts):
>    1179 +dfsg
>    1119 .dfsg
>     233 ~dfsg
>     201 -dfsg
> 
> Should I use "+" or "."? Should that be somehow standardized or
> mentioned in the faq? Or do you reckon that it doesn't make any
> difference at all and should be left up to maintainers?

The difference is in the sorting: lintian tells us the following
about it:

$ lintian-info -t dfsg-version-with-period
N: dfsg-version-with-period
N:
N:   The version number of this package contains ".dfsg", probably in a
N:   form like "1.2.dfsg1". There is a subtle sorting problem with this
N:   version method: 1.2.dfsg1 is considered a later version than 1.2.1. If
N:   upstream adds another level to its versioning, finding a good version
N:   number for the next upstream release will be awkward.
N:   
N:   Upstream may never do this, in which case this isn't a problem, but
N:   it's normally better to use "+dfsg" instead (such as "1.2+dfsg1"). "+"
N:   sorts before ".", so 1.2 < 1.2+dfsg1 < 1.2.1 as normally desired.
N:   
N:   Severity: minor, Certainty: possible
N:

Cheers,
gregor
 
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