Bug#1088443: debian-policy: Recommend Debian package version format when upstream has no releases

[Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>]

On Thu, Nov 28, 2024 at 10:44:40AM +0100, Simon Josefsson wrote:
> Otto Kekäläinen <otto@debian.org> writes:
> 
> >> The commit hash. 007c9af.
> >
> > OK, thanks.
> >
> > I disagree here - to me the git commit hash is the single most
> > important identifier for the software version if there are no actual
> > releases.
> 
> FWIW, I used to believe the same but this changed my mind -- gnulib is a
> rolling stable package with no releases:
> 
> https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1069268#10
> 
> I believe versions numbers are for humans; incremental integers, dates
> and possibly semantic versioning are useful ideas.  I don't object to a
> git commit identifier in a version number, but I also wouldn't want to
> enforce it as a general rule.  For gnulib I settled on recording the
> full git commit identifier in debian/changelog instead.

This bug report makes a good point that version should be kept to be copy-pastable and
comparable by humans. 

By itself, the git commit hash does not provide any information without a copy
of the git repository. debian/changelog should be sufficient for that purpose.

Cheers,
-- 
Bill. <ballombe@debian.org>

Imagine a large red swirl here.