RE: [PATCH 3/3] Introduce $(compare ...) for numerical comparison

[Randall S. Becker]

On September 13, 2021 2:40 PM, Jouke Witteveen wrote:
>On Fri, Jul 16, 2021 at 2:04 PM Jouke Witteveen <j.witteveen@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Numbers can come from $(words ...), automatic variables such as
>> $(MAKELEVEL), from environment variables, or from shell output such as
>> through $(shell expr ...).  The $(compare ...) function allows
>> conditional evaluation controlled by numerical variables.
>>
>> * NEWS: Announce this feature.
>> * doc/make.texi (Functions for Conditionals): Document 'compare'.
>> * src/function.c (func_compare): Create the 'compare' built-in function.
>> * tests/scripts/functions/compare: Test the 'compare' built-in function.
>> ---
>>
>> This is a cleaned-up and documented version of a proposal submitted a
>> year ago. The interface was conceived by Edward Welbourne and myself.
>> Personally, I would not introduce mathematical operators to make, but
>> given that numbers are a thing and they do pop up in variables, a
>> comparison function makes sense to me.
>>
>> Thanks for considering!
>> - Jouke
>
>I would still be interested in seeing this patch series I sent two months ago 
>considered. I am not in a rush: this is just a friendly reminder.

I am interested in this series as well, although something more general might 
also be interesting, like a general version compare function like $(compare 
1.6.1 1.6.100), and that also take into account character-based versioning, 
like $(compare A10.88 B20.94).

-Randall