Re: [groff] version and revision management

[Werner LEMBERG]

> In order to track more finely the version used when people report an
> issue, I propose to use gnulib's script 'git-version-gen' to
> generate a unique version.

Yes!

> Note: the full version is propagated in the various executables
> generated by the build system (for example 'groff --verrsion' will
> give something like "GNU troff (groff) version
> 1.22.3.real.434-5aafd").  However there is a register '\n[.Y]' that
> correspond to the revision of groff; as I can't pass non
> alphanumeric characters to it (in the above example the revision
> would be equal to '3.real.434-5aafd') this register will be defined
> as the first alphanumeric digits of the revision.

This is not correct, AFAICS.  There exist `number' registers that
actually return non-numeric data also, for example `\n[.F]' (search
for the term `string-valued' in the info file).  A quick look into the
code seems to indicate that `\n[.Y]' is already set up to hold a
string – it is set up with function `constant_reg' (instead of
`constant_int_reg').

In other words, only the documentation needs an update to tag this
register als `string-valued'.  And Peter has to slightly adjust
mom :-)


    Werner