Quoting "Sharp, Chris" <csh...@georgialibraries.org>:
As long as the tagged git version and the tarball match, I have no problem with suggesting either, but I think tarballs are standard and expected in F/LOSS projects.
They are becoming less so as more projects switch to git or some other distributed version control system. Mplayer2 is one project that has abandoned tarballs and versioned releases completely.
There is another place where versioned releases are tarballs help. That is with packaging software for distribution with certain GNU/Linux flavors. Most of their binary packaging systems depend on certain versioning styles to determine when to upgrade an installed package. Currently, this is not an issue for Evergreen, since the only way to install it at present is to compile it from source code. However, several in the community have ambitions of creating binary packages for Debian, Ubuntu, or Fedora that users can just install and hopefully everything just works. Not having tarballs and versions will make their work slightly more difficult.
If we're voting again on version schemes, I would vote for the Ubuntu-style YY.MM type. After all, when you run from the master branch in git, the date you build it is more or less your version.
-- Jason Stephenson Assistant Director for Technology Services Merrimack Valley Library Consortium Chief Bug Wrangler, Evergreen ILS
