> Gets ported to Debian? It already runs on Debian.

Pardon my terminology.  What I meant was that it would run like a native 
package, installable from repository, losing the /openils/ directory, etc., in 
other words, an example of what would be a very significant change from current 
state.

> As for the numbering, using the last digit results in...
> 
> 2019 - 9.x
> 2020 - 0.x

You are right, of course.  My suggestion implies that we don't worry about 
that, as it's not an immediate concern.  A lot can happen to a piece of 
software in 8 years, it's a long time.

Alexey Lazar
PALS
Information System Developer and Integrator
507-389-2907
http://www.mnpals.org/

On May 17, 2012, at 12:58 , Thomas Berezansky wrote:

> Gets ported to Debian? It already runs on Debian.
> 
> 
> 
> I think there is a problem there. Using 2 digits we don't have a problem like 
> that until the 2099-2100 jump.
> 
> Thomas Berezansky
> Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
> 
> 
> Quoting "Lazar, Alexey Vladimirovich" <[email protected]>:
> 
>> I'm +1 with a date-based scheme, but I would like the transition to be 
>> smooth and seamless, not a big jolt, even if only perceived.
>> 
>> For this reason, if we do switch to a date-based numbering, may I suggest 
>> that rather than using YY.MM like Ubuntu, we would just use the last number 
>> of the year for the first digit of the version, followed by .0 or .1 
>> depending on if it's the fist or second major release of that year.  Minor 
>> bug fix releases would be the third digit then.  That all starting with the 
>> March release of 2013.
>> 
>> So, the transition would look something like the following.
>> 
>> Rolling on current numbering:
>> 2.2 - current release
>> 2.3 - September 2012 release
>> 
>> Now, smoothly and seamlessly transitioning to a date-based scheme, while the 
>> numbering continues to increase monotonically:
>> 3.0 - March release of 2013. Minor releases, if any: 3.0.1, 3.0.2, etc.
>> 3.1 - September release of 2013. Minor releases, if any: 3.1.1, 3.1.2, etc.
>> 4.0 - March release of 2014. Minor releases, if any: 4.0.1, 4.0.2, etc.
>> 4.1 - September release of 2014. Minor releases, if any: 4.1.1, 4.1.2, etc.
>> 
>> And so on.  This way we can abandon the current scheme that fell out of use, 
>> and adopt a new simpler scheme naturally without a big to-do about it.  
>> Let's reserve a HUGE version jump for when there is a SIGNIFICANT change in 
>> Evergreen, e.g., it gets ported to Debian, or something of that magnitude.
>> 
>> Alexey Lazar
>> PALS
>> Information System Developer and Integrator
>> 507-389-2907
>> http://www.mnpals.org/
>> 
>> On May 17, 2012, at 10:53 , Jason Stephenson wrote:
>> 
>>> Quoting "Lazar, Alexey Vladimirovich" <[email protected]>:
>>> 
>>>> Using this scheme, does that mean abandoning minor release numbers?  If 
>>>> yes, I'm against that.  If no, what would minor releases look like, 
>>>> 12.09.1 or 12.09.0.1?  Ubuntu does not seem to be using the minor release 
>>>> numbers.
>>> 
>>> Ubuntu does use minor release numbers. The current "version" of Ubuntu 
>>> Lucid Lynx is 10.04.4. Thing about the Ubuntu updates is that you typically 
>>> get them in a rolling fashion, so you might not notice when minor versions 
>>> are added.
>>> 
>>> The core of my argument is this:
>>> 
>>> Are we focusing on feature releases or timed releases? If the former, then 
>>> version numbers tied to features/bug fixes makes sense: 2.2.0, 2.2.1, 2.3, 
>>> 3.0, etc. If the latter, i.e. we're just releasing what's deemed ready on a 
>>> certain date, then they make less sense, since there is no guarantee of 
>>> what features are in a given release or what the relationship of features 
>>> to release is any longer.
>>> 
>>> What it sounds like the majority wants is to have a timed release schedule, 
>>> but to focus on feature-related versioning schemes. I have no real 
>>> objection to that, but don't surprised when releases slip because planned 
>>> features are not ready.
>>> 
>>> As I stated earlier in this thread, my main objection to the feature and 
>>> dependency-related version scheme is that we aren't using the current one 
>>> as it is described. I has, de facto, become meaningless.
>>> 
>>> As Rogan has pointed out, the version numbers have a psychological effect 
>>> on the community:
>>> 
>>> "As for the numbering ... aside from the rational and reasonable reasons 
>>> for 2.3 versus 3.0, there is the psychological as well.  Let's just say a 
>>> jump to 3.0 will generate some ... anxiety."
>>> 
>>> I think that's another argument for switching to date-base versions or even 
>>> named releases, dropping version numbering schemes all together.
>>> 
>>> In these days of DVCS where the hurdle of installing from git is hardly any 
>>> higher than installing from a tarball, version number schemes make less 
>>> sense than in the past. I have already pointed one project that has 
>>> abandoned versioned releases in favor of telling people to use git. I think 
>>> version numbers should be a thing of the past. As a programmer, I've often 
>>> preferred to install the packages that I care the most about from source 
>>> and to make sure that I have the absolutely latest code when I encounter an 
>>> issue.
>>> 
>>> From a free software community perspective, I don't see how support gets 
>>> any harder under this model. You end up asking all of the same questions. 
>>> And, you have a very good answer to any unknown problem: update to the 
>>> latest master and see if the problem persists, if so, we'll open a bug. How 
>>> is that any different than saying, "Oh, you're on 2.0.5 and the latest is 
>>> 2.0.11. Update to 2.0.11 and tell us if the problem is still there."?
>>> 
>>> Dan Scott and, I think, Mike Rylander referred to it as Point In Time 
>>> Support, or PITS. What's a versioned released is not a Point In Time 
>>> Release? And what is support for that release if not Point In Time Support? 
>>> Doing it with commit hashes is no different. (That was from IRC for those 
>>> not following along at home.)
>>> 
>>> The hurdles to installing Evergreen are already fairly high, and if one can 
>>> install it from a tarball, one can just as easily install it from git. 
>>> (Instead of wget some-url or downloading in a browser and using scp, you 
>>> just type git clone some-url.)
>>> 
>>> All of that said, I don't really care what versioning scheme is used. I'd 
>>> only suggest that it be rational and consistent (and applied consistently 
>>> as the current one has not).
>>> 
>>> If the focus of development is on regular, date-bound releases, then I'd 
>>> prefer date-related versions, even ISO date stamps, Ubuntu's scheme is only 
>>> an example. Even just ratcheting the major version every six months in 
>>> imitation of Mozilla works in that regard.
>>> 
>>> If the focus is on getting certain features into certain releases, then 
>>> version schemes like the current one make more sense.
>>> 
>>> Me, I'm happy just using commit hashes and/or the timestamp when I ran the 
>>> make install command.
>>> 
>>> For someone who claims not to care about the versioning, I sure have spent 
>>> a lot of time typing about it.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Jason Stephenson
>>> Assistant Director for Technology Services
>>> Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
>>> Chief Bug Wrangler, Evergreen ILS
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

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