Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] Problems and limitations of the current version dependency specs

[William L. Thomson Jr.]

On Tuesday, November 1, 2016 1:31:55 AM EDT Michał Górny wrote:
>
> 1. How often do you find '~' useful? Do you think there should be
> additional operators that ignore revision part?

IMHO, this one should be a requirement anytime a project/package is split 
between multiple ebuilds. This is common for Java projects, where parts are 
built in pieces, and packaged on their own.

The rationale is if you are splitting up a package from a single source/
release version. All dependencies should be using the same version, beyond the 
same slot. I do not think upstreams will want to work or handle bugs that 
result from mixing versions of stuff. Nor should there even be potential for 
such issue by mixing versions.

I went so far as to make it a recommendation for Gentoo Java, but really 
should be expanded as a general rule, requirement vs recommendation.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Java_Developer_Guide#Versions

This does come with additional overhead, as you cannot just bump a piece of a 
package without doing all. It also makes the order of bumping and removal a 
bit more complex as well. There can also be some issues when it comes to doing 
system updates, if not doing world. May have blockers with different versions 
being pulled in vs installed on system.

Regardless of the negatives, I think the positives are justified.

-- 
William L. Thomson Jr.