Re: RPM upgrade caveats going from a beta version to RC

Peter Eisentraut wrote:
>
> Lamar Owen writes:
>
> > One quick note -- since 'R' < 'b', the RC RPM's must be forced to
> > install with --oldpackage, as RPM does a simple strcmp of version
> > numbers -- 7.1RC3 < 7.1beta1, for instance. Just force it with
> > --oldpackage if you have a 7.1beta RPM already installed.
>
> Btw., are you aware of the 'serial' tag to override the version guessing
> mechanism?

Yes, I am, actually. But it seems a broken way of dealing with it.
Although I do have another idea, thanks to Trond. Rather than package
'7.1RC4-1' I could package '7.1-0.1RC4' -- giving a straight
versioning. I could progress from '7.1-0.1beta1.1' through
'7.1-0.1beta6.2' through '7.1-0.2RC1.1' to '7.1-1'.

Last time I looked at the documentation for the serial tag, its use was
strongly discouraged. But that _has_ been awhile -- maybe it could be
useful. But I would prefer the whole version numbering thingtobe fixed,
as the Debian packages have the same issue -- and I don't know if .deb
has an analog to Serial:.
--
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
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