[SciPy-dev] Next SciPy release

[Ravikiran Rajagopal]

On Friday 21 July 2006 05:24, Andrew Straw wrote:
> Technically, yes, this violates the principle that the temporal  
> sequence of version numbers should also sort with setuptools or  
> debian's dpkg or whatever. (scipy numbered 0.5.0.x after the 0.4.9  
> svn versions but that temporally precedes the 0.5.0b series would  
> sort after the 0.5.0b series). However, I'd rather deal with that  
> than break the 2:1 ratio that has happened with the release version  
> numbers, which would be particularly nice to have at 1.0/0.5.

Please, no. There really is no reason to keep the 2:1 ratio; having easy to 
remember numbers is really pointless since most users just want the latest 
version. In particular, the actual version number roundness matters probably 
only to the people on this list and we all use svn anyway. Violating version 
numbering standards makes life a *lot* harder for packagers, even if it is 
only for a few months. Please follow the scheme recognized by virtually every 
tool in *nix world; it would be an administration nightmare otherwise.

I, for example, am slowly sneaking in scipy as an alternative to commercial 
math packages. As a result, I support scipy (and some other mathematical or 
statistical software) installations for many users and it is hard enough to 
ensure that everyone is using the same version without resorting to extra 
scripts just for scipy.

Regards,
Ravi