R devel - Nov 2004 - Version names

I have Windows XP build scripts that look for R in a variety
of folders and if multiple ones are found, takes the last
one.  For example, I currently have the following 
in \Program Files\R :

	rw1060
	rw1062
	rw1071
	rw1071beta
	rw1081
	rw1090
	rw1090dev
	rw1091
	rw1091pat
	rw2000
	rw2001beta

Note that it currently correctly gets rw2001beta but if I
add rw2001 then it will not pick it up since rw2001beta
would continue to sort after it.

I tried using dates in my scripts to pick out the right one
but realized that it was somewhat error prone and decided to
move back to ordering by the names.

I wonder if a naming convention could be adopted that ensured
that the names sort in order.  For example,

	rw2010a - alpha, i.e. development version (previously rw2010dev)
	rw2010b - beta version (previously rw2001beta)
	rw2010f - final version (previously rw2010)
	rw2010p - patched version (previously rw2010pat)

Other possibilities might include an ascending numeric or date suffix.

I also thought about executing 
	bin\R --version 
or 
	bin\Rcmd --version
in each rw folder but am not sure if this works in all versions and
if it does whether the output is always provides a comparable
format.

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 18:09:20 +0000 (UTC), Gabor Grothendieck
<ggrothendieck@myway.com> wrote:
>
>
>I have Windows XP build scripts that look for R in a variety
>of folders and if multiple ones are found, takes the last
>one.  For example, I currently have the following 
>in \Program Files\R :
>
>	rw1060
>	rw1062
>	rw1071
>	rw1071beta
>	rw1081
>	rw1090
>	rw1090dev
>	rw1091
>	rw1091pat
>	rw2000
>	rw2001beta
>
>Note that it currently correctly gets rw2001beta but if I
>add rw2001 then it will not pick it up since rw2001beta
>would continue to sort after it.
>
>I tried using dates in my scripts to pick out the right one
>but realized that it was somewhat error prone and decided to
>move back to ordering by the names.
>
>I wonder if a naming convention could be adopted that ensured
>that the names sort in order.  For example,
>
>	rw2010a - alpha, i.e. development version (previously rw2010dev)
>	rw2010b - beta version (previously rw2001beta)
>	rw2010f - final version (previously rw2010)
>	rw2010p - patched version (previously rw2010pat)
That would work.  Use the rename command, and you've got it.

Another possibility is to have your build script split up the name and
apply a custom sort order to it.

The pattern is:

"rw" + version number + suffix

The suffices appear in this order:  "dev", "alpha",
"beta", "", "pat"
(where not all appear, e.g. "dev" never appears for a minor release,
and sometimes "alpha" is skipped).

Duncan Murdoch