Version numbers (was: A plea to Andreas)

[ScratchMonkey]

--On Friday, July 08, 2005 10:57 AM +0200 Mikael Bååth 
<mikaelbaath at gmail.com> wrote:

> If Dice and/or EA has some
> business rule to their versions that states that they may not release
> two different versions of the server under the same version number,
> that's an administrative problem, not a software problem.

That presumes that the entire package has only one version number. It's 
quite common for there to be many version numbers involved in a release. 
There's the revision number on each source file, which is used primarily by 
the revision control system. There's the release version number, which 
might have qualifiers like "beta2" or "prerelease4" or "patchlevel1".

Most important for client-server compatibility is the version number of the 
wire protocol. There may also be a version number of the rule set. As long 
as those are the same (or compatible), you should be able to mix and match 
package versions.

Check out the electrical aisle at the hardware store. There are lots of 
colors and materials used in outlets and plugs, yet they can all be used 
together, at least for the same voltage. There are a couple of different 
plug styles for different current ratings, and the lower-rated plug can be 
plugged into the higher-rated outlet. (One of the blades has a "T" on the 
higher current plug to keep you from plugging it into the lower-rated 
outlet.)