Re: Summary[2]: dpkg and alpha/beta versioning

[Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

I agree that we should do this (have a character which sorts before
anything, including the empty string), but we should not make it ~,
because ~ is currently not legal in version numbers.

We have two choices: (a) we can invent a new character not currently
legal, or (b) we can change the meaning of an existing character.

(a) means that packages (and Packages files, etc.) with the new
character will be rejected by the old software (dpkg, etc).

(b) means that they'll be accepted, but sorted wrong by the old
software, until the new software is installed.

I think (b) is better.  I favour `-' as a character.  This has one
negative consequence: you can't use it in a revision, because the
revision is the part after the last `-'.  However, it does have a
slightly good connotation of `subtraction'.

Ian.


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