[sword-devel] Version stamp format

[Karl Kleinpaste]

I understand (now) that spec restricts the version stamp that way, but I
have yet to see any reasoning *why*.  Is there code which performs
arithmetic on them?  In GS, it's treated just as a string, like any
other key=value string in a *.conf; if our module manager finds
differing values, without any consideration of a "greater than"
semantic, we put up a refresh icon, as visual advice to the user.

As I think about this, imposing a "string greater than" semantic in GS
would be easy, using strcmp() for more than just a != test.  And I
already see where that would benefit users (i.e. me) where there are
modules made available in more than 1 repo, or where an updated module
has been withdrawn for some reason.

I had never previously thought to check for any limitation on version
stamp format.  I faintly remember noticing around the time that I first
created the GS manual module that bible.org's module version stamps were
2-point, and of course Sword itself and all the UIs have version stamps
which are 2-point.  The version name restriction seems arbitrary unless
there is arithmetic being performed.  (And if there is indeed a problem
with this, then someone really does need to have a chat with bible.org.)