On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:30:59 +0200
Luca Barbato <lu_zero@g.o> wrote:
> > * When installing an scm package with suitable EAPI to VDB /
> > exndbam, rewrite the scm version to -scm@THE_INFO_OUTPUT.
> 
> so -scm will have a @ metachar to point that what's following is the 
> hash/revision/reference to avoid clashes.
> The info output would consider branches and tags as well?

The ID is merely equality comparable. So far as I'm aware, all scm
systems can give you at least one of:

* A numeric revision of whatever you've checked out (subversion r1234
etc)

* A string revision of whatever you've checked out (git sha1 IDs)

* When the last change was made. You can always do something like find
dir/ -type f -printf '%T@\n' | sort -n | tail -n1 if you're dealing
with a sucky SCM that has no global revisions... I suspect CVS is in
this boat, if anyone's still using it...

For subversion and git, this has the added devious advantage of making
the revision / ID easily visible.

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh