Re: [Suggestion] New function `emacs-version>='

[Luc Teirlinck]

Chris Wedler wrote:

   I thought it would be the 3rd number in `emacs-version' because the
   Emacs-21.3 pre-releases had a useful numering scheme, i.e., they had
   versions 21.2.90, 21.2.91, ...

I do not see why a package developer would want to support old
pre-releases.  It seems to me that pre-releases become obsolete once
the actual version is released.

   Since there might be some bug-fix releases of Emacs-21.3 before
   Emacs-21.4 is out,

I believe that Emacs-21.3 is itself a bug-fix release.

   I would think it would be useful to have versions numbers 21.3.0,
   21.3.1 etc for them.  How do I distinguish between such Emacs-21.3
   versions now?

In as far as I know, there is only one version of Emacs-21.3.  Except
that the user could build several different versions, using different
toolkits or whatever.  These will get different third numbers, but
only the user knows the meaning of that third number.

   Or is the first bug fix of Emacs-21.3 called
   Emacs-21.4 (and the second Emacs-21.5)?

Yes.  Unless there are new-feature releases in between.

   I would also have guessed something similar for the Emacs development
   version... (e.g., that they start with Emacs-21.3.40 or whatever...)

The current CVS is Emacs-21.3.50.  You get a fourth number telling you
how many times you built it.

Essentially, the information you want from `emacs-patch-level' is
already contained in `emacs-minor-version'.  You just wind up with
more minor-versions, since each bug-fix release increments
`emacs-minor-version'.

Sincerely,

Luc.