If we were to split the version string into components on - and . and _ and also split on transitions from number to letters then use the ordering rules at each component as defined here...
Examples of version to components split 1.0 ==> 1, 0 1.0-beta1 ==> 1, 0, beta, 1 1-SNAPSHOT ==> 1, SNAPSHOT 2.3.4.5-r1 ==> 2, 3, 4, 5, r, 1 So each component could try a numeric compare if parsing as Integer works or string comparison otherwise. essentially this rule is applied to all components SNAPSHOT < ALPHA < BETA < RC < "" < [a-zA-Z]* < [0-9]* With exceptions for SNAPSHOT, BETA, ALPHA which can have special meaning and be less than anything in order. And the absense of an entry puts it above Its very similar to how things work now <http://docs.codehaus.org/display/MAVEN/Dependency+Mediation+and+Conflict+Resolution> This would seem to give a common sense interpretation of all versions This algorithm will work for ./commons-collections/commons-collections/2.0 ./commons-collections/commons-collections/2.1 ./commons-collections/commons-collections/3.0 ./commons-collections/commons-collections/3.1 ./commons-collections/commons-collections/3.2 ./commons-collections/commons-collections/2.1.1 ./commons-httpclient/commons-httpclient ./commons-httpclient/commons-httpclient/3.1 ./commons-httpclient/commons-httpclient/2.0.2 ./commons-httpclient/commons-httpclient/3.0.1 ./commons-httpclient/commons-httpclient/3.1-rc1 ./jaxen/jaxen/1.1.1 ./jaxen/jaxen/1.1-beta-6 ./jaxen/jaxen/1.1-beta-8 ./jaxen/jaxen/1.1-beta-9 ./jaxen/jaxen/1.0-FCS ./commons-io/commons-io ./commons-io/commons-io/1.2 ./commons-io/commons-io/1.3 ./commons-io/commons-io/1.4 ./commons-io/commons-io/1.3.1 ./geronimo-spec/geronimo-spec-jta/1.0-M1/ ./geronimo-spec/geronimo-spec-jta/1.0.1B-rc1/ ./geronimo-spec/geronimo-spec-jta/1.0.1B-rc2/ ./geronimo-spec/geronimo-spec-jta/1.0.1B-rc3/ ./geronimo-spec/geronimo-spec-jta/1.0.1B-rc4/ ./info/magnolia/magnolia-core/3.5.4 ./info/magnolia/magnolia-core/3.6-SNAPSHOT ./info/magnolia/magnolia-core/3.5.4.1-SNAPSHOT ./poi/poi/2.5.1 ./poi/poi/2.5.1-final-20040804 ./org/hibernate/hibernate/3.0.5 ./org/hibernate/hibernate/3.2.0.ga ./org/hibernate/hibernate/3.2.3.ga ./org/hibernate/hibernate/3.2.5.ga ./org/hibernate/hibernate/3.2.0.cr5 ./org/hibernate/hibernate-tools ./org/hibernate/hibernate-tools/3.2.0.beta9a ./org/hibernate/hibernate-annotations ./org/hibernate/hibernate-annotations/3.2.0.ga the .beta1 vs -beta1 example ./org/mortbay/jetty/servlet-api-2.5/6.1.3 ./org/mortbay/jetty/servlet-api-2.5/6.1.5 ./org/mortbay/jetty/servlet-api-2.5/6.0.0beta12 ./org/mortbay/jetty/servlet-api-2.5/6.1.1rc1 and even my favourite bug bear ./cglib/cglib/1.0/ ./cglib/cglib/2.0-rc2/ ./cglib/cglib/2.0.1/ ./cglib/cglib/2.0.2/ ./cglib/cglib/2.0beta2/ ./cglib/cglib/2.1/ ./cglib/cglib/2.1_2/ ./cglib/cglib/2.1_3/ ./cglib/cglib/rc2-1.0/ -- Michael McCallum Enterprise Engineer mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
