Re: [ ACTION-107] Updating version list identifier algorithm

Hey guys,

Just thought I might bring to your attention Debian's fairly mature
way of handling versions.

http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-f-Version

You can play with it on a Debian system like so:

monty:~% dpkg --compare-versions 1.10.0 gt 1.2.0 && echo true
true

On 18/09/2007, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
> If you do parse the version numbers, then you run into the problem that if
> someone accidentally pushes a really high version number like
> version="110" instead of "1.1.0", then they are forever forced to have
> their version be higher than that so that everyone can upgrade. It also
> means that if a serious regression is found in a new widget version,
> authors can't just immediately downgrade, they have to go and repackage
> the widget with a new version number and then push that.

In those accidental cases Debian uses an epoch. So a subsequent update
to a mistake like "110" is "1:1.1.1"

monty:~% dpkg --compare-versions 110 lt 1:1.1.1 && echo true
true

Best wishes,

Received on Tuesday, 18 September 2007 18:15:58 UTC