NAME

version - Perl extension for Version Objects

SYNOPSIS

  use version;
  $version = new version "12.2.1"; # must be quoted!
  print $version;               # 12.2.1
  print $version->numify;       # 12.002001
  if ( $version gt  "v12.2" )   # true

  $vstring = new version qw(v1.2); # must be quoted!
  print $vstring;               # 1.2

  $alphaver = new version "1.2_3"; # must be quoted!
  print $alphaver;              # 1.2_3
  print $alphaver->is_alpha();  # true

  $perlver = new version 5.005_03; # must not be quoted!
  print $perlver;               # 5.5.30

DESCRIPTION

Overloaded version objects for all versions of Perl. This module implements all of the features of version objects which will be part of Perl 5.10.0 except automatic v-string handling. See "Quoting".

What IS a version

For the purposes of this module, a version "number" is a sequence of positive integral values separated by decimal points and optionally a single underscore. This corresponds to what Perl itself uses for a version, as well as extending the "version as number" that is discussed in the various editions of the Camel book.

There are actually two distinct ways to initialize versions:

• Numeric Versions

  Any initial parameter which "looks like a number", see "Numeric Versions".

• V-String Versions

  Any initial parameter which contains more than one decimal point, contains an embedded underscore, or has a leading 'v' see "V-String Versions".

Both of these methods will produce similar version objects, in that the default stringification will always be in a reduced form, i.e.:

  $v  = new version 1.002003;  # 1.2.3
  $v2 = new version  "1.2.3";  # 1.2.3
  $v3 = new version   v1.2.3;  # 1.2.3 for Perl > v5.8.0
  $v4 = new version    1.2.3;  # 1.2.3 for Perl > v5.8.0

Please see "Quoting" for more details on how Perl will parse various input values.

Any value passed to the new() operator will be parsed only so far as it contains a numeric, decimal, or underscore character. So, for example:

  $v1 = new version "99 and 94/100 percent pure"; # $v1 == 99.0
  $v2 = new version "something"; # $v2 == "" and $v2->numify == 0

However, see "New Operator" for one case where non-numeric text is acceptable when initializing version objects.

Numeric Versions

These correspond to historical versions of Perl itself prior to v5.6.0, as well as all other modules which follow the Camel rules for the $VERSION scalar. A numeric version is initialized with what looks like a floating point number. Leading zeros are significant and trailing zeros are implied so that a minimum of three places is maintained between subversions. What this means is that any subversion (digits to the right of the decimal place) that contains less than three digits will have trailing zeros added to make up the difference. For example:

  $v = new version       1.2;    # 1.200
  $v = new version      1.02;    # 1.20
  $v = new version     1.002;    # 1.2
  $v = new version    1.0023;    # 1.2.300
  $v = new version   1.00203;    # 1.2.30
  $v = new version  1.002_03;    # 1.2.30   See L<"Quoting">
  $v = new version  1.002003;    # 1.2.3

All of the preceeding examples except the second to last are true whether or not the input value is quoted. The important feature is that the input value contains only a single decimal.

V-String Versions

These are the newest form of versions, and correspond to Perl's own version style beginning with v5.6.0. Starting with Perl v5.10.0, this is likely to be the preferred form. This method requires that the input parameter be quoted, although Perl > v5.9.0 can use bare v-strings as a special form of quoting.

Unlike "Numeric Versions", V-String Versions must either have more than a single decimal point, e.g. "5.6.1" or must be prefaced by a "v" like this "v5.6" (much like v-string notation). In fact, with the newest Perl v-strings themselves can be used to initialize version objects. Also unlike "Numeric Versions", leading zeros are not significant, and trailing zeros must be explicitely specified (i.e. will not be automatically added). In addition, the subversions are not enforced to be three decimal places.

So, for example:

  $v = new version    "v1.2";    # 1.2
  $v = new version  "v1.002";    # 1.2
  $v = new version   "1.2.3";    # 1.2.3
  $v = new version  "v1.2.3";    # 1.2.3
  $v = new version "v1.0003";    # 1.3

In additional to conventional versions, V-String Versions can be used to create "Alpha Versions".

In general, V-String Versions permit the greatest amount of freedom to specify a version, whereas Numeric Versions enforce a certain uniformity. See also "New Operator" for an additional method of initializing version objects.

Object Methods

Overloading has been used with version objects to provide a natural interface for their use. All mathematical operations are forbidden, since they don't make any sense for base version objects.

• New Operator

  Like all OO interfaces, the new() operator is used to initialize version objects. One way to increment versions when programming is to use the CVS variable $Revision, which is automatically incremented by CVS every time the file is committed to the repository.

In order to facilitate this feature, the following code can be employed:

  $VERSION = new version qw$Revision: 2.7 $;

and the version object will be created as if the following code were used:

  $VERSION = new version "v2.7";

In other words, the version will be automatically parsed out of the string, and it will be quoted to preserve the meaning CVS normally carries for versions.

For the subsequent examples, the following two objects will be used:

  $ver  = new version "1.2.3"; # see "Quoting" below
  $alpha = new version "1.2_3"; # see "Alpha versions" below

• Stringification

  Any time a version object is used as a string, a stringified representation is returned in reduced form (no extraneous zeros):

  print $ver->stringify;      # prints 1.2.3
  print $ver;                 # same thing

• Numification

  Although all mathematical operations on version objects are forbidden by default, it is possible to retrieve a number which roughly corresponds to the version object through the use of the $obj->numify method. For formatting purposes, when displaying a number which corresponds a version object, all sub versions are assumed to have three decimal places. So for example:

    print $ver->numify;         # prints 1.002003

• Comparison operators

  Both cmp and <=> operators perform the same comparison between terms (upgrading to a version object automatically). Perl automatically generates all of the other comparison operators based on those two. In addition to the obvious equalities listed below, appending a single trailing 0 term does not change the value of a version for comparison purposes. In other words "v1.2" and "v1.2.0" are identical versions.

  For example, the following relations hold:

    As Number       As String          Truth Value
    ---------       ------------       -----------
    $ver >  1.0     $ver gt "1.0"      true
    $ver <  2.5     $ver lt            true
    $ver != 1.3     $ver ne "1.3"      true
    $ver == 1.2     $ver eq "1.2"      false
    $ver == 1.2.3   $ver eq "1.2.3"    see discussion below
    $ver == v1.2.3  $ver eq "v1.2.3"   ditto

  In versions of Perl prior to the 5.9.0 development releases, it is not permitted to use bare v-strings in either form, due to the nature of Perl's parsing operation. After that version (and in the stable 5.10.0 release), v-strings can be used with version objects without problem, see "Quoting" for more discussion of this topic. In the case of the last two lines of the table above, only the string comparison will be true; the numerical comparison will test false. However, you can do this:

    $ver == "1.2.3" or $ver == "v1.2.3"   # both true

  even though you are doing a "numeric" comparison with a "string" value. It is probably best to chose either the numeric notation or the string notation and stick with it, to reduce confusion. See also "Quoting".

• Logical Operators

  If you need to test whether a version object has been initialized, you can simply test it directly:

    $vobj = new version $something;
    if ( $vobj )   # true only if $something was non-blank

  You can also test whether a version object is a "Alpha version", for example to prevent the use of some feature not present in the main release:

    $vobj = new version "1.2_3"; # MUST QUOTE
    ...later...
    if ( $vobj->is_alpha )       # True

Quoting

Because of the nature of the Perl parsing and tokenizing routines, certain initialization values must be quoted in order to correctly parse as the intended version, and additionally, some initial values must not be quoted to obtain the intended version.

Except for "Alpha versions", any version initialized with something that looks like a number (a single decimal place) will be parsed in the same way whether or not the term is quoted. In order to be compatible with earlier Perl version styles, any use of versions of the form 5.006001 will be translated as 5.6.1. In other words, a version with a single decimal place will be parsed as implicitly having three places between subversions.

The complicating factor is that in bare numbers (i.e. unquoted), the underscore is a legal numeric character and is automatically stripped by the Perl tokenizer before the version code is called. However, if a number containing a single decimal and an underscore is quoted, i.e. not bare, that is considered a "Alpha Version" and the underscore is significant.

If you use a mathematic formula that resolves to a floating point number, you are dependent on Perl's conversion routines to yield the version you expect. You are pretty safe by dividing by a power of 10, for example, but other operations are not likely to be what you intend. For example:

  $VERSION = new version (qw$Revision: 1.4)[1]/10;
  print $VERSION;          # yields 0.14
  $V2 = new version 100/9; # Integer overflow in decimal number
  print $V2;               # yields 11_1285418553

Perl 5.9.0 and beyond will be able to automatically quote v-strings (which may become the recommended notation), but that is not possible in earlier versions of Perl. In other words:

  $version = new version "v2.5.4";  # legal in all versions of Perl
  $newvers = new version v2.5.4;    # legal only in Perl > 5.9.0

Types of Versions Objects

There are two types of Version Objects:

• Ordinary versions

  These are the versions that normal modules will use. Can contain as many subversions as required. In particular, those using RCS/CVS can use one of the following:

    $VERSION = new version qw$Revision: 2.7 $;

  and the current RCS Revision for that file will be inserted automatically. If the file has been moved to a branch, the Revision will have three or more elements; otherwise, it will have only two. This allows you to automatically increment your module version by using the Revision number from the primary file in a distribution, see "VERSION_FROM" in ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

• alpha versions

  For module authors using CPAN, the convention has been to note unstable releases with an underscore in the version string, see CPAN. Alpha releases will test as being newer than the more recent stable release, and less than the next stable release. For example:

    $alphaver = new version "12.3_1"; # must quote

  obeys the relationship

    12.3 < $alphaver < 12.4

  As a matter of fact, if is also true that

    12.3.0 < $alphaver < 12.3.1

  where the subversion is identical but the alpha release is less than the non-alpha release.

Replacement UNIVERSAL::VERSION

In addition to the version objects, this modules also replaces the core UNIVERSAL::VERSION function with one that uses version objects for its comparisons.

EXPORT

None by default.

AUTHOR

John Peacock <jpeacock@rowman.com>

SEE ALSO

perl.

cpanm Env

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Env