Version string to auto-sync an Ubuntu delta (maysync1 vs ~willsync1)

[Lukas Märdian]

Am 25.05.22 um 13:22 schrieb Marc Deslauriers:
> [...]
>> We needed a version that does not contain the word "ubuntu", so it can be
>> auto-synced, once the committed patch is uploaded into Debian. But at the same
>> time we needed it to be bigger than the current version (1.0.1-3build2) and
>> wanted it to be smaller than a potential, future "1.0.1-3ubuntu1" version. We
>> came up with the following:
>>
>>
>> 1.0.1-3build2 < 1.0.1-3maysync1 < 1.0.1-3ubuntu1 => 1.0.1-3maysync1
> 
> I kind of think "maysync" and "willsync" could be confusing for users as they
> may think it has something to do with the software they are installing...how
> about something simple, like 3u1, or 3distro1?

I'm not sure how much end users look at or are influenced by the (end of 
the) version string of the packages that they're installing. But I get 
your point there. OTOH the "maysync"/"willsync" suffix makes things more 
transparent for developers/packagers.

I very much like the "3u1" suffix, too ("3distro1" works as well), as it 
is small and simple. But might be a bit opaque for developers/packagers. 
Like, it's not obvious what's the difference between a "3ubuntu1" and 
"3u1" Ubuntu package. If this would be documented, so everybody could 
find the meaning behind it easily, this could be the best solution IMO.

The "+3b1" suffix suggested by xnox would not have worked in the case 
described above, due to the special (not-so-special) "-3build2" version 
string.

1.0.1-3build2 > 1.0.1-3b1 => not OK
1.0.1-3build2 < 1.0.1-3+b1 => OK, but:
1.0.1-3ubuntu1 < 1.0.1-3+b1 => not OK

The confusion wrt. Debian's binNMU version strings is another reason why 
we should probably avoid the "+bN" notation, although I like the fact of 
it never being able to show up in a Debian source upload for the same 
reason.

-- Lukas