On Tue, 2007-05-01 at 11:10 +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote: > Fernando Lopez-Lezcano schrieb: > > [...] > > AFAIK repotags have not caused technical > > problems when used, they _have_ been useful, and they work now. > > repotags are part of the release and as such they influence the > version-comparison when rpm determinates which rpm package is the > newest. Some people call that a "technical problem". How is having a repotag in the "Release:" tag semantically _different_ from having only a number and an optional disttag? > In other words: the repo with the "highest" repotag wins: > > [thl@notebook ~]$ rpmdev-vercmp 0 1.1 5 0 1.1 5.at > 0:1.1-5.at is newer > [thl@notebook ~]$ rpmdev-vercmp 0 1.1 5.at 0 1.1 5.epel > 0:1.1-5.epel is newer > [thl@notebook ~]$ rpmdev-vercmp 0 1.1 5.epel 0 1.1 5.rf > 0:1.1-5.rf is newer > [thl@notebook ~]$ rpmdev-vercmp 0 1.1 5.rf 0 1.1 5.zzzzzzzzzz > 0:1.1-5.zzzzzzzzzz is newer > > > [...] If I may state the obvious, any component of the "Release:" tag influences the ordering. The numbers there do that, the distag there (if present) does that and the repotag there does that as well. None of the components have a magical meaning that makes it right[1]. Within a given repository the "extra" components (disttag, repotag) are irrelevant as they are a constant. The arbitrary number(s) at the beginning of the "Release:" tag will determine which package is newer, and hopefully packagers and the build system will keep them sane and nicely e-v-r ordered :-) So, I dare say there are no technical problems within a repository that could be caused by adding a repotag. Release tag comparison between repositories is meaningless. There is no "right way" of comparing between repositories. Having only a number there has the same _meaning_ in comparisons between repositories as having a number, an optional disttag and a repotag. To restate it differently, if an added repotag is a concern because of the fact that it can define the ordering of packages between repositories, then the already existing number there should raise exactly the same concern as it has _exactly_ the same effect. _All_ of the components of the "Release:" tag, when comparing between repositories, are meaningless. So, I dare say there are no technical problems in comparing packages between repositories that could be caused by adding a repotag. [furthermore and in case it was missed, when I wrote "AFAIK repotags have not caused technical problems when used, they _have_ been useful, and they work now." it means what it says, there have NOT been problems with them - there's nothing magical in EPEL that would suddenly cause problems now, I think] -- Fernando [1] you can also add letters, numbers, dates, etc that spill from the "Version:" tag to the "Release:" tag when packaging cvs, svn, beta or rc releases. -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
