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The issue of version strings

 

 

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rabelg5 at gmail

Oct 28, 2009, 5:25 PM

Post #1 of 18 (464 views)
Permalink
The issue of version strings

One thing I think it might be worth working on is the user-
friendliness of the version strings of packages in Extras. We want the
Application manager to be as friendly and approachable for the average
user as possible and long incomprehensible lines of alphanumerics are
a surefire way to scare people off. ;)

So, this is just my humble request that people be considerate of users
when crafting their version strings and try to it reasonable. Avoiding
date/svn-based versions would probably be a good idea.
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martin.grimme at gmail

Oct 29, 2009, 1:01 AM

Post #2 of 18 (451 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

Hi,

hmm, what's so bad about a simple date for a version number?
Ubuntu does it, (Open)Solaris does it, and I started doing it, too,
because I found it less confusing than having version numbers such
as e.g. 0.96.5.


Martin


2009/10/29, Ryan Abel <rabelg5[at]gmail.com>:
> One thing I think it might be worth working on is the user-
> friendliness of the version strings of packages in Extras. We want the
> Application manager to be as friendly and approachable for the average
> user as possible and long incomprehensible lines of alphanumerics are
> a surefire way to scare people off. ;)
>
> So, this is just my humble request that people be considerate of users
> when crafting their version strings and try to it reasonable. Avoiding
> date/svn-based versions would probably be a good idea.
> _______________________________________________
> maemo-developers mailing list
> maemo-developers[at]maemo.org
> https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-developers
>
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niels at maemo

Oct 29, 2009, 4:20 AM

Post #3 of 18 (447 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

On Thu, October 29, 2009 09:01, Martin Grimme wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> hmm, what's so bad about a simple date for a version number? Ubuntu does
> it, (Open)Solaris does it, and I started doing it, too, because I found it
> less confusing than having version numbers such as e.g. 0.96.5.

Sane version numbers should at least not look like this:
2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1

And yes, this is an actual package version number ;)
>
>
> Martin
>
- Niels

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david at dgreaves

Oct 29, 2009, 2:45 PM

Post #4 of 18 (442 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

Ryan Abel wrote:
> One thing I think it might be worth working on is the user-
> friendliness of the version strings of packages in Extras. We want the
> Application manager to be as friendly and approachable for the average
> user as possible and long incomprehensible lines of alphanumerics are
> a surefire way to scare people off. ;)
>
> So, this is just my humble request that people be considerate of users
> when crafting their version strings and try to it reasonable. Avoiding
> date/svn-based versions would probably be a good idea.

So you're thinking that a git sha1 is 'suboptimal' ?

I thought Shopper v.fc42f5c26bbc257cf782679f7b40075e05322647

?

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rabelg5 at gmail

Oct 29, 2009, 3:41 PM

Post #5 of 18 (443 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

On Oct 29, 2009, at 5:45 PM, David Greaves wrote:

> So you're thinking that a git sha1 is 'suboptimal' ?
>
> I thought Shopper v.fc42f5c26bbc257cf782679f7b40075e05322647

Don't make me hit you!
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juha.kallioinen at nokia

Oct 30, 2009, 4:44 AM

Post #6 of 18 (434 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

ext Niels Breet wrote:
> On Thu, October 29, 2009 09:01, Martin Grimme wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> hmm, what's so bad about a simple date for a version number? Ubuntu does
>> it, (Open)Solaris does it, and I started doing it, too, because I found it
>> less confusing than having version numbers such as e.g. 0.96.5.
>
> Sane version numbers should at least not look like this:
> 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1
>
> And yes, this is an actual package version number ;)

And a perfectly good one too! :) It's useful not to change the upstream
package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package could use
updating.

The problem is imho the Application manager, not the version numbers.

What's the point of even displaying the version number in the Application
manager's default view? I personally don't care about the version at all and
I certainly won't remember if an application's version has been updated by
looking at the list view. Am I alone with this opinion? Why do you need to
see the version there? The update manager will gladly tell me if I have an
older version installed and if I don't, won't I just install whatever the
Application manager offers me?

The package version can anyways be found from the package details page,
where there's more space available for it too.

A much more interesting bit of data instead of the package version to be
shown by default might be the date when the package was uploaded. Also the
Application manager could use a 'show new packages' view.

But these of course require changes to the Application manager and maybe
even to apt/dpkg database to be able to show the package's date and are more
difficult to implement than just making nicer version numbers.

Maybe a nice version number could really just be the date the package was
created. That would fulfill my first wish, but we'd lose the upstream
version trackability :)

Juha


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g+770 at cobb

Oct 30, 2009, 5:55 AM

Post #7 of 18 (432 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

On Friday 30 October 2009 11:44:17 Juha Kallioinen wrote:
> And a perfectly good one too! :) It's useful not to change the upstream
> package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package could
> use updating.

I agree with all Juha's points (but I would, wouldn't I!).

Maybe we need to decouple the package versions (which are very useful to link
to the upstream versions, and have to be monotonically increasing to make
sure builds and installs work) from user-visible versions. If we had a
separate field for the user-visible version (like we do for name) I would
probably use something like: "2.7 2009/10/30" instead of the long version
string I use in the package.

Graham
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andrew at bleb

Oct 30, 2009, 6:20 AM

Post #8 of 18 (431 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 12:55, Graham Cobb <g+770[at]cobb.uk.net> wrote:
> On Friday 30 October 2009 11:44:17 Juha Kallioinen wrote:
>> And a perfectly good one too! :) It's useful not to change the upstream
>> package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package could
>> use updating.
>
> I agree with all Juha's points (but I would, wouldn't I!).

Simplest solution I can see, whilst still giving the user some
indication of version number (3.4.1 tells you something over 0.0.1):
the Application Manager only shows things of the form (\d+)(\.\d+)*?

So, the example of 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1 would
just appear as 2.0.0 in the view.

Cheers,

Andrew

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david at dgreaves

Oct 30, 2009, 8:15 AM

Post #9 of 18 (432 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

On Fri, 2009-10-30 at 13:20 +0000, Andrew Flegg wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 12:55, Graham Cobb <g+770[at]cobb.uk.net> wrote:
> > On Friday 30 October 2009 11:44:17 Juha Kallioinen wrote:
> >> And a perfectly good one too! :) It's useful not to change the upstream
> >> package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package could
> >> use updating.
> >
> > I agree with all Juha's points (but I would, wouldn't I!).
>
> Simplest solution I can see, whilst still giving the user some
> indication of version number (3.4.1 tells you something over 0.0.1):
> the Application Manager only shows things of the form (\d+)(\.\d+)*?
>
> So, the example of 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1 would
> just appear as 2.0.0 in the view.

/me would be confused.

Why is it upgrading 2.0.0 to 2.0.0 *again* ?

David
(Who presumably wouldn't see the -local_bugfix1 and -local_bugfix2
suffixes)


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donaggio at gmail

Oct 30, 2009, 8:18 AM

Post #10 of 18 (432 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

Why not simply telling "minor release update" whenever the version upgrade
is in the epoch part only?

Luca Donaggio

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 4:15 PM, David Greaves <david[at]dgreaves.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 2009-10-30 at 13:20 +0000, Andrew Flegg wrote:
> > On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 12:55, Graham Cobb <g+770[at]cobb.uk.net<g%2B770[at]cobb.uk.net>>
> wrote:
> > > On Friday 30 October 2009 11:44:17 Juha Kallioinen wrote:
> > >> And a perfectly good one too! :) It's useful not to change the
> upstream
> > >> package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package
> could
> > >> use updating.
> > >
> > > I agree with all Juha's points (but I would, wouldn't I!).
> >
> > Simplest solution I can see, whilst still giving the user some
> > indication of version number (3.4.1 tells you something over 0.0.1):
> > the Application Manager only shows things of the form (\d+)(\.\d+)*?
> >
> > So, the example of 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1 would
> > just appear as 2.0.0 in the view.
>
> /me would be confused.
>
> Why is it upgrading 2.0.0 to 2.0.0 *again* ?
>
> David
> (Who presumably wouldn't see the -local_bugfix1 and -local_bugfix2
> suffixes)
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>


andrew at bleb

Oct 30, 2009, 8:32 AM

Post #11 of 18 (431 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 15:15, David Greaves <david[at]dgreaves.com> wrote:
>>
>> So, the example of 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1 would
>> just appear as 2.0.0 in the view.
>
> /me would be confused.
>
> Why is it upgrading 2.0.0 to 2.0.0 *again* ?

You know what version you've got installed of something already? I'm
talking only about the grid view, the details can show whatever
weirdity fits.

Cheers,

Andrew

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jeremiah at jeremiahfoster

Oct 30, 2009, 5:40 PM

Post #12 of 18 (424 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

On Oct 30, 2009, at 12:44, Juha Kallioinen wrote:

> ext Niels Breet wrote:
>> On Thu, October 29, 2009 09:01, Martin Grimme wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>
>>> hmm, what's so bad about a simple date for a version number?
>>> Ubuntu does
>>> it, (Open)Solaris does it, and I started doing it, too, because I
>>> found it
>>> less confusing than having version numbers such as e.g. 0.96.5.
>>
>> Sane version numbers should at least not look like this:
>> 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1
>>
>> And yes, this is an actual package version number ;)
>
> And a perfectly good one too! :)

I don't agree. :P

> It's useful not to change the upstream
> package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package
> could use
> updating.

But in this case it has both the ubuntu and maemo strings. The policy
says that you use the 'maemo' string only if you have modified the
package in some way for maemo, is this the case with that package? Or
is in modified for ubuntu? Or is it modified for maemo and the ubuntu
modifications have been kept?

Furthermore what is 'bmp' and how is that helpful? What is mp4v2? And
how is that helpful? And why have both a version number _and_ a
version control system number? Perhaps use one or the other.
>
> The problem is imho the Application manager, not the version numbers.
>
> What's the point of even displaying the version number in the
> Application
> manager's default view? I personally don't care about the version at
> all and
> I certainly won't remember if an application's version has been
> updated by
> looking at the list view. Am I alone with this opinion? Why do you
> need to
> see the version there? The update manager will gladly tell me if I
> have an
> older version installed and if I don't, won't I just install
> whatever the
> Application manager offers me?

Good points, but Ryan's original point is still valid and these issues
also affect any place you have to use version numbers, not just the
Application Manager. The string that Niels posted could be shortened
to: 2.0.0-6maemo1

This leaves you with the version number of the upstream source, the
version of upstream packaging, and the maemo packaged version. Here
you have all the trackability you need with simplicity. I think the
original request is a good one and developers/maintainers ought to
consider revising their version strings for clarity.

Jeremiah

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anidel at gmail

Nov 5, 2009, 4:18 PM

Post #13 of 18 (265 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

2009/10/31 Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah[at]jeremiahfoster.com>:
>
> On Oct 30, 2009, at 12:44, Juha Kallioinen wrote:
>
>> ext Niels Breet wrote:
>>> On Thu, October 29, 2009 09:01, Martin Grimme wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> hmm, what's so bad about a simple date for a version number?
>>>> Ubuntu does
>>>> it, (Open)Solaris does it, and I started doing it, too, because I
>>>> found it
>>>> less confusing than having version numbers such as e.g. 0.96.5.
>>>
>>> Sane version numbers should at least not look like this:
>>> 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1
>>>
>>> And yes, this is an actual package version number ;)
>>
>> And a perfectly good one too! :)
>
> I don't agree. :P
>
>> It's useful not to change the upstream
>> package version too much so that it's easier to see that a package
>> could use
>> updating.
>
> But in this case it has both the ubuntu and maemo strings. The policy
> says that you use the 'maemo' string only if you have modified the
> package in some way for maemo, is this the case with that package? Or
> is in modified for ubuntu? Or is it modified for maemo and the ubuntu
> modifications have been kept?
>
> Furthermore what is 'bmp' and how is that helpful? What is mp4v2? And
> how is that helpful? And why have both a version number _and_ a
> version control system number? Perhaps use one or the other.
>>
>> The problem is imho the Application manager, not the version numbers.
>>
>> What's the point of even displaying the version number in the
>> Application
>> manager's default view? I personally don't care about the version at
>> all and
>> I certainly won't remember if an application's version has been
>> updated by
>> looking at the list view. Am I alone with this opinion? Why do you
>> need to
>> see the version there? The update manager will gladly tell me if I
>> have an
>> older version installed and if I don't, won't I just install
>> whatever the
>> Application manager offers me?
>
> Good points, but Ryan's original point is still valid and these issues
> also affect any place you have to use version numbers, not just the
> Application Manager. The string that Niels posted could be shortened
> to: 2.0.0-6maemo1
>
> This leaves you with the version number of the upstream source, the
> version of upstream packaging, and the maemo packaged version. Here
> you have all the trackability you need with simplicity. I think the
> original request is a good one and developers/maintainers ought to
> consider revising their version strings for clarity.
>

Few people complained that Xournal 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 was too long.
I will make a diablo version as well (0.4.2.1-1diablo3).

It's not my fault if Fremantle is a long name :P
Anyway, suggestions?

Bear in mind that 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 is now in Extras, changing it
will make it a new package?

--
anidel
Sent from London, Eng, United Kingdom
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anderson.lizardo at openbossa

Nov 6, 2009, 3:07 AM

Post #14 of 18 (250 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Aniello Del Sorbo <anidel[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> Few people complained that Xournal 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 was too long.
> I will make a diablo version as well (0.4.2.1-1diablo3).
>
> It's not my fault if Fremantle is a long name :P
> Anyway, suggestions?
>
> Bear in mind that 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 is now in Extras, changing it
> will make it a new package?

I personally think that the length of version strings should not be QA
or "user friendliness" issue at all. Ideally, I think the application
manager should handle long version strings by itself. One idea is to
truncate the middle of a long string with "...", like several
applications do to e.g. URLs. Some heuristic could be added that
splits into common separators, such as +-~:

2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1 -> 2.0.0+...-0ubuntu6maemo1

(although I think that in this case "ubuntu6" should be removed from
the version string, given that the previous debian/changelog entries
will take care of documenting the upstream vendor versions.)

And if strings like "0.4.2.1-1fremantle13", begin to become too long
for the UI to display properly, I think we might have a problem with
the application manager and not with the strings :)

Just my two cents,
--
Anderson Lizardo
OpenBossa Labs - INdT
Manaus - Brazil
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anidel at gmail

Nov 6, 2009, 3:30 AM

Post #15 of 18 (252 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

2009/11/6 Anderson Lizardo <anderson.lizardo[at]openbossa.org>:
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Aniello Del Sorbo <anidel[at]gmail.com> wrote:
>> Few people complained that Xournal 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 was too long.
>> I will make a diablo version as well (0.4.2.1-1diablo3).
>>
>> It's not my fault if Fremantle is a long name :P
>> Anyway, suggestions?
>>
>> Bear in mind that 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 is now in Extras, changing it
>> will make it a new package?
>
> I personally think that the length of version strings should not be QA
> or "user friendliness" issue at all. Ideally, I think the application
> manager should handle long version strings by itself. One idea is to
> truncate the middle of a long string with "...", like several
> applications do to e.g. URLs. Some heuristic could be added that
> splits into common separators, such as +-~:
>
> 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu6maemo1 -> 2.0.0+...-0ubuntu6maemo1
>
> (although I think that in this case "ubuntu6" should be removed from
> the version string, given that the previous debian/changelog entries
> will take care of documenting the upstream vendor versions.)
>
> And if strings like "0.4.2.1-1fremantle13", begin to become too long
> for the UI to display properly, I think we might have a problem with
> the application manager and not with the strings :)
>
> Just my two cents,
> --
> Anderson Lizardo
> OpenBossa Labs - INdT
> Manaus - Brazil
>

The issue had more to do with that version appearing on Maemo.org
Downloads than on the AM.
Indeed it looks awful and I'd love to have a shorter version ON that web page.

But if I change it by editing the Maemo.org page, it reverts back to
the one in the package.

I.e. I'd like to have my app version be shorter "0.4.2.1-<minor>" AND
the 'package version' as
it is now "0.4.2.1-1fremantle13".

Is that possible at all?

Thanks for your 2 cents :)


--
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jeremiah at jeremiahfoster

Nov 6, 2009, 5:04 AM

Post #16 of 18 (250 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

On Nov 6, 2009, at 1:18, Aniello Del Sorbo wrote:

> 2009/10/31 Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah[at]jeremiahfoster.com>:
>>>
>>
>> Good points, but Ryan's original point is still valid and these
>> issues
>> also affect any place you have to use version numbers, not just the
>> Application Manager. The string that Niels posted could be shortened
>> to: 2.0.0-6maemo1
>>
>> This leaves you with the version number of the upstream source, the
>> version of upstream packaging, and the maemo packaged version. Here
>> you have all the trackability you need with simplicity. I think the
>> original request is a good one and developers/maintainers ought to
>> consider revising their version strings for clarity.
>>
>
> Few people complained that Xournal 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 was too long.
> I will make a diablo version as well (0.4.2.1-1diablo3).
>
> It's not my fault if Fremantle is a long name :P
> Anyway, suggestions?
>
> Bear in mind that 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 is now in Extras, changing it
> will make it a new package?

I think your version string is excellent, I wouldn't change a thing!
You could, if you wanted, truncate the distro name into three letters;

0.4.2.1-1fre13
0.4.2.1-1dia3

But that is up to you.

Jeremiah
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anidel at gmail

Nov 6, 2009, 6:05 AM

Post #17 of 18 (251 views)
Permalink
Re: The issue of version strings [In reply to]

2009/11/6 Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah[at]jeremiahfoster.com>:
>
> On Nov 6, 2009, at 1:18, Aniello Del Sorbo wrote:
>
>> 2009/10/31 Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah[at]jeremiahfoster.com>:
>>>>
>>>
>>> Good points, but Ryan's original point is still valid and these
>>> issues
>>> also affect any place you have to use version numbers, not just the
>>> Application Manager. The string that Niels posted could be shortened
>>> to: 2.0.0-6maemo1
>>>
>>> This leaves you with the version number of the upstream source, the
>>> version of upstream packaging, and the maemo packaged version. Here
>>> you have all the trackability you need with simplicity. I think the
>>> original request is a good one and developers/maintainers ought to
>>> consider revising their version strings for clarity.
>>>
>>
>> Few people complained that Xournal 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 was too long.
>> I will make a diablo version as well (0.4.2.1-1diablo3).
>>
>> It's not my fault if Fremantle is a long name :P
>> Anyway, suggestions?
>>
>> Bear in mind that 0.4.2.1-1fremantle13 is now in Extras, changing it
>> will make it a new package?
>
> I think your version string is excellent, I wouldn't change a thing!
> You could, if you wanted, truncate the distro name into three letters;
>
> 0.4.2.1-1fre13
> 0.4.2.1-1dia3
>
> But that is up to you.
>
> Jeremiah

Thanks, I'm at 4c now.. a bit more I can buy an ice cream :)
Anyway.. for the time being I'll leave it as it is.

Thanks ! :)

--
anidel
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eero.tamminen at nokia

Nov 18, 2009, 2:06 AM

Post #18 of 18 (91 views)
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Re: The issue of version strings / improving Application manager view [In reply to]

Hi,

Kallioinen Juha (Nokia-D/Helsinki) wrote:
> The problem is imho the Application manager, not the version numbers.
>
> What's the point of even displaying the version number in the Application
> manager's default view? I personally don't care about the version at all and
> I certainly won't remember if an application's version has been updated by
> looking at the list view. Am I alone with this opinion? Why do you need to
> see the version there? The update manager will gladly tell me if I have an
> older version installed and if I don't, won't I just install whatever the
> Application manager offers me?

The alpha/beta/stable status would be interesting.

I.e. is this a bugfix release or one with new buggy features?


> The package version can anyways be found from the package details page,
> where there's more space available for it too.

A link to package page that opens Browser would be best I think.


> A much more interesting bit of data instead of the package version to be
> shown by default might be the date when the package was uploaded. Also the
> Application manager could use a 'show new packages' view.
>
> But these of course require changes to the Application manager and maybe
> even to apt/dpkg database to be able to show the package's date and are more
> difficult to implement than just making nicer version numbers.
>
> Maybe a nice version number could really just be the date the package was
> created. That would fulfill my first wish, but we'd lose the upstream
> version trackability :)


- Eero
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