bug#35939: version sort is incorrect with hyphen-minus

[Ian Jackson]

Ian Jackson writes ("Re: bug#35939: version sort is incorrect with 
hyphen-minus"):
> Paul Eggert writes ("Re: bug#35939: version sort is incorrect with 
> hyphen-minus"):
> > GNU sort uses the same algorithm as glibc strverscmp, and this algorithm 
> > has 
> > changed only once since strverscmp was added to glibc in 1997. The change 
> > was 
> > made in 2009, to fix this bug:
> > 
> > https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=9913
> > 
> > Has the Debian version-comparison algorithm changed since 1997? If so, 
> > could you 
> > give details about the changes to the Debian algorithm? Perhaps glibc 
> > should be 
> > changed to stay consistent with Debian.
> 
> Debian introduced a special (and very useful) meaning for ~, many
> years ago now.
> 
> I checked the Debian policy manual and according to its upgrading
> checklist this change was made in 2007.

I have just checked the manpage I have here for strverscmp and it is
far from clear to me that the algorithm described there, and the dpkg
algorithm, produce the same answers.  (Even disregarding ~, and the
fact that the specification of the dpkg algorithm is defined only over
a subset of possible strings even though the unique extension to UTF-8
strings is fairly obvious.)

-- 
Ian Jackson <address@hidden>   These opinions are my own.

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