-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Fri, 24 Oct 1997, Ian Jackson wrote:
> > Some upstream sources use a `snapshot date' instead of a real version > > number. As these `dates' are used as version id for dpkg it is useful to > > make them all use the same format. (It doesn't matter if our version > > number _looks_ different than the one from the upstream source when a date > > is used. For example, everyone should be able to recognize that `96May05' > > is the same as `1996.05.05'.) > > I disagree strongly. In general we have a good correspondence between > upstream and Debian version numbers. I don't think that we have to or > should make an exception to the usual policy of trying to keep our > version numbers close to the upstream ones. > > Of course a version number may need to be reformatted to get it to > sort properly, but IMO the minimal change should be made which has > this effect. > > Furthermore, implementation of this policy would require changes to > the version numbering of many existing packages, which would require > epochs in some cases and in any case be confusing. Ok, let's relax the requirements: Encouraged standards for dates: 1. Preferred: YYYY.MM.DD or YYYY.MM 2. Less preferred: YYYYMMDD or YYYYMM How much do we encourage the standards: * Newly created Debian-specific packages using dates should use YYYY.MM.DD or YYYY.MM format. * Already existing Debian-specific packages should move to one of the encouraged standards if doing so does not make them to need an epoch. [ Note that some packages would need an epoch if they move to 1) but not if they move to 2) ] * Upstream sources using braindead [*] numbering schemes (like "96May05") should move to 1) as soon as possible even if an epoch is needed. * We shall consider upstream sources using 2-digit years as an "oddity". This should be considered as a bug (wishlist), but we will not fix it until it is fixed upstream. [*] braindead: anything which may, in principle, require a lot of epochs if we insist on keeping the upstream version number untouched. Examples: Using month names, or putting year after month, etc. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: latin1 iQCVAgUBNFCDnSqK7IlOjMLFAQEBRwP/Tm9CqB7CfIkEWGcaKsrGefO9D9y/VzGP RPtKbb+i2g4RHPrJVQXoIaTmw+8mxA/JzO55QUn/uWDUP6A+F9NtrLbliBCNBAID RHKcdzJ/YHGdFPELap2mYzZw6p2mJlM5TWvm01F9Tv7iOut23hkK5MqtkpgG7ptD HvAGfpRYXjM= =0omL -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
