Re: Summary[2]: dpkg and alpha/beta versioning
On Tue, Jul 21, 1998 at 05:23:45PM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> 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'.
[Drat - reference has disappeared so I can't see what symbols are allowed]
IMO "-" is too overused, isn't there something else we can use instead (see
above note). Even if "-" is quite nice for subtraction, having packages
called boo_98-06-23-43-2.3_i386.deb could be a tad confusing ?-)
Adrian
email: adrian.bridgett@zetnet.co.uk, http://www.poboxes.com/adrian.bridgett
Windows NT - Unix in beta-testing. PGP key available on public key servers
Debian Linux http://www.debian.org The superior Linux distribution
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