RE: [Caml-list] Debian's version-numbering convention

[David Allsopp <dra-news@metastack.com>]

Hendrik Boom wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 05:10:15PM +0200, Damien Doligez wrote:
> >
> > > In Debian "~" is used to denote versions smaller than, e.g.
> > > 4.04.0~beta1, 4.04.0~rc4 while "+" is for versions larger than, e.g.
> > > 4.03.0+bugfix7. Would it be possible to adapt the same for ocaml
> > > versions?
> >
> > No. We have a well-defined syntax for version numbers and we can't
> > change it without breaking an unknown number of tools.
> >
> > -- Damien
> 
> Yet on Fri, Aug 12, 2016 at 02:25:17PM +0200, Grégoire Henry wrote:
> > > Two questions:
> > >
> > > 1. Does OPAM really implement the Debian spec for comparing version
> > > numbers$
> >
> > Yes.
> >
> 
> This accords with the ocaml spec:

That's the OPAM spec, not the OCaml spec!

> http://opam.ocaml.org/doc/Manual.html#version-ordering
> 
> This suggests that any package-handling packages that don't handle "~"
> in the Debian way need to be fixed, possibly even old versions.  It's not
> a matter of compatibility; it's a matter of error.

That's true if you're handling OPAM package versions, but the OCaml version number is defined differently in http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-ocaml/libref/Sys.html#VALocaml_version.


David