bug#19219: New command-line syntax for package + version?

[Ludovic Courtès]

Mathieu Lirzin <address@hidden> skribis:

> In fact I think that having the same character for separating words and
> version is a design flaw.  This brings non desirable limitations when
> choosing a package name (as shown in this bug report) and/or requires a
> complex parsing algorithm.  We could use a reserved character instead
> (just like we do for multiple outputs).  My proposition would be to have
> ':' for versions and '/' for outputs, like this:
>
>   guile:1.8/doc
>   xterm-256-color:320
>   emacs:24.5/out
>
> WDYT?

I had to think a lot because that’s a big change (technically simple I
think, but it’s the change of UI and habits that’s bigger ;-)).  I came
to the conclusion that it’s probably a necessary thing.

Regarding the aesthetics, I’d be in favor of using @ for the version:

  address@hidden
  address@hidden:doc

I’m not sure if we should also allow:

  guile:address@hidden

Thoughts?

Ludo’.