Re: LYNX-DEV Spelling the Lynx version (dot vs. dash)

[Jim Spath (Webmaster Jim)]

On Tue, 27 May 1997, Foteos Macrides wrote:
> Al Gilman <address@hidden> wrote:
> >  From: "Jim Spath (Webmaster Jim)" <address@hidden>
> >  Thanks for updating prep.ai.mit.edu!  The only minor nit is the 
> >  numbering scheme.  Lynx versions have historically been identified
> >  with dashes rather than periods, since VMS apparently allows only
> >  one dot per file name.  So lynx-2.7.1 should be called lynx2-7-1.
> >Historically, there has been varied use including mixes such as 2.3-FM.
> >But I think we should go with the way we want it to be in the future.
> >I have changed the text on lynx.browser.org to read "Lynx 2-7-1"
> >on the premise that if we just stick to this people won't trip over
> >the fact that there are hyphens in the filename.
> >Anyone object?
>
>       I don't personally see any problem with retaining the convention
> of using dots to indicate the main and subversions (plus letters with
> or without a hyphen, but not a dot, for personal or development code
> sets) when the version is indicated in the online help or Lynx Version
> string.  Don't confuse that with the departure from convention with
> respect to use of multidot names for archives, rather than hyphens
> which will correspond to the breakout directory.  E.g., by convention,
> what is now:
> 
>       lynx2.7.1ac-0.28.zip
>       lynx2.7.1ac-0.28.tar.gz
>       lynx2.7.1ac-0.28.tar.Z
> 
> would have been:
> 
>       lynx2-7-1ac_0_28.zip
>       lynx2-7-1ac_0_28.tar.gz
>       lynx2-7-1ac_0_28.tar.Z
> 
> with the implication that the breakout will be in and under:
> 
>       lynx2-7-1ac
>       
> The .tar.gz and .tar.Z multidots would have been retained in those
> names, because the second dot would be converted automatically to
> the character expected by the uncompressor ports to VMS.
> 
>       That convention to accommodate VMS does not also
> accommodate the 8.3 systems Lynx now seeks to support
> (lynx2-7-1ac, or even lynx2-7-1, is more than 8 letters),
> so Wayne's opinion about this seems relevant to consider.
> I presume .tgz is OK in lieu of .tar.gz, and I presume
> a .tar.Z would be handled as if it were a .tgz (i.e,
> using gunzip in Unix compress mode), but I don't know
> anything concrete about the DOS/WIN/NT ports of gzip. :)
> 
>                       Fote

Coupl'a points:

*)  The Gnu folks took the Lynx2-7-1.zip file and recast it to a tar.gz
file, as is their style.  The also renamed the tar.gz file to be
lynx-2.7.1.tar.gz, using the Gnu style of file naming.  I have no problem
with that. 

*)  The change from dots to dashes in the current archives and
patch-o-matic was more accidental than deliberate... 

*)  To accomodate the 8.3 convention, I linked the current archive to
"lynx-cur.zip".  New versions could perhaps be aliased to be
"lynx-272.zip" or "lynx-272.tgz". 

*)  When breaking out zip files under DOS, Info-Zip's unzip makes
intelligent choices about file and directory names. 

------
<http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/db/users/us/md/lib/bcpl/jspath/face.xbm>
Marvin the Paranoid Android says:
That's it, I've had enough.

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