[Fedora-packaging] Post-release tags

[Fernando Nasser]

Hi Tom,

Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-03-21 at 09:39 -0400, Fernando Nasser wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> We have for quite some time figured out what to do with pre-release 
>> tags: 0.#.<tag>.#%{?dist}
>>
>> But what to do with _post_-release tags?
> 
>>From http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/NamingGuidelines
> 
> "Post-release packages: Packages released after a "final" version. This
> usually is due to a quick bugfix release, such as openssl-0.9.6b  or
> gkrellm-2.1.7a. In this case, the non-numeric characters are permitted
> in the Version: field. "
> 

Yeah, I saw that.  It did not bother me while these thing were a single 
letter like 'a' of 'b'.  But when things start becomeing strings like 
SP1_CP2 or GA_CP1 it made me wish to have them out of the version part.

> 
>> Here is an example:
>>
>> These upstream software releases its software from pre-release to final 
>> like that:
>>
>> 1_1_0_BETA
>> 1_1_0_BETA1
>> 1_1_0_BETA2
>> 1_1_0_CR1
>> 1_1_0_CR2
>> 1_1_0_GA
>>
>> So far so good, we use pre-release tags for all but the last, which we 
>> call just '1.1.0'.
>>
>> After the final release (GA- General Availability), the process goes on. 
>>   After some fixes are added, they release:
>>
>> 1_1_0_CP1
>> 1_1_0_CP2
>> 1_1_0_CP3
>>
>> So I thought we could just add one decimal point: .1, .2 and .3 for the 
>> above.
> 
> Two methods come to mind:
> 
> 1. Just increment the release and ignore the post release tagging, e.g.
> 
> foo-1.1.0-0.1.BETA
> foo-1.1.0-0.2.BETA1
> foo-1.1.0-0.3.BETA2
> foo-1.1.0-0.4.CR1
> foo-1.1.0-0.5.CR2
> foo-1.1.0-1 (is actually GA)
> foo-1.1.0-2 (is actually CP1)
> foo-1.1.0-3 (is actually CP2)
> foo-1.1.0-4 (is actually CP3)
> foo-1.1.0-5 (is actually SP1)
> foo-1.1.0-6 (is actually SP1_CP1)
> 

The post-release information is important to the users, as it relates to 
  where bugs were fixed.

> 
> 2. Use the post release tag like a CVS/SVN checkout tag:
> 
> foo-1.1.0-0.1.BETA
> foo-1.1.0-0.2.BETA1
> foo-1.1.0-0.3.BETA2
> foo-1.1.0-0.4.CR1
> foo-1.1.0-0.5.CR2
> foo-1.1.0-1 (is actually GA)
> foo-1.1.0-2.CP1
> foo-1.1.0-3.CP2
> foo-1.1.0-4.CP3
> foo-1.1.0-5.SP1
> foo-1.1.0-6.SP1_CP1
> 

This one works.


> I prefer option 1, as I suspect that users might care when something is
> in beta/pre-release, but don't care at all about post-release levels as
> long as it works. Either way works. The latter mechanism is a logical
> extension of CVS/SVN release naming, but it introduces icky underscores
> and makes the n-v-r longer (for what benefit)?
> 

Yeah, the underscore is a drag, but at least it is in the same situation 
as the ones from CVS tags.


Cheers,
Fernando