On Sun, 17 May 2009 00:42:58 +0530
Arun Raghavan <ford_prefect@gentoo.org> wrote:
> On Sat, 2009-05-16 at 18:55 +0100, Ciaran McCreesh wrote:
> [...]
> > You have yet to provide an alternative for fixing the arbitrary and
> > pointless version format restrictions that are currently in place.
> 
> Create an EAPI for the required changes, fast track inclusion to a
> stable portage.

Can't do that. The package manager has to barf on unrecognised .ebuild
files.

> If this is not viable, make an unrecognised version string cause the
> same fallback as an unsupported EAPI => ignore the ebuild. Again, fast
> track to stable portage, and not so long after, you're done.

Again, no good. First, it means a year or more wait before doing
anything. Second, it removes a whole level of error checking. Third, it
means a package manager can't know what versions are available for a
package without generating metadata for every potential version.

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh