Bug#1014890: RFP: python3-looseversion -- Version numbering for anarchists and software realists

[Yaroslav Halchenko <debian@onerussian.com>]

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-python@lists.debian.org

* Package name    : python3-looseversion
  Version         : 1.0.1
  Upstream Author : Chris Markiewicz <effigies@gmail.com>
* URL             : https://github.com/effigies/looseversion
* License         : Python
  Programming Lang: Python
  Description     : Version numbering for anarchists and software realists

A backwards/forwards-compatible fork of distutils.version.LooseVersion,
for times when PEP-440 isn't what you need.
.
The goal of this package is to be a drop-in replacement for the original
LooseVersion. It implements an identical interface and comparison logic to
LooseVersion. The only major change is that a looseversion.LooseVersion is
comparable to a distutils.version.LooseVersion, which means tools should not
need to worry whether all dependencies that use LooseVersion have migrated.
.
If you are simply comparing versions of Python packages, consider moving
to packaging.version.Version, which follows PEP-440. LooseVersion is better
suited to interacting with heterogeneous version schemes that do not follow
PEP-440.

This package would be useful as we plan for adding support for Python 3.12
which would remove distutils.version.LooseVersion and some packages would need
to "adjust" somehow.  In our DataLad project we likely would just go the way
of using this LooseVersion instead of coming up with some "more proper" solution.