Re: Policy: Versioning Macros In The Archive

[Peter Simons]

Guido Draheim writes:

 >> These are all fields that my software uses internally
 >> and which need to be consistent in order for the whole
 >> thing to work. [...] Since, according to you, I can't
 >> treat any fields as "internal" as long as I distribute
 >> them publicly, I will stop distributing them.

 > Good lord, Peter, would you please stop overreacting, the
 > message to you was "stop modifying what the submitter has
 > given to you including the @version tag".

But Guido, that is exactly what this will accomplish! The
solution is beautiful. I had the right idea from the start,
I just didn't realize it! Instead of having the _internal_
archive information in the m4 source code and stripping that
for release, I'll have that information in a separate
database which will be invisible to users of the archive.

This way, I can re-categorize, change, and re-organize
everything just as I see fit, without ever having to modify
the file that the submitter sent me!

So in short, the only tags the submitter knows are:

 @synopsis
 @summary

This makes the whole thing a lot easier for everybody. And
the best part is: I can store that internal database with
the meta-information in XML, like I wanted to all the time.

Okay, I am sorry about the mess. I made a mistake when I
decided to put the entire archive meta-data into CVS. I
shouldn't have mixed up my stuff with the stuff the users
submit. I apologize.

Peter