version> and version>=

[goncholden]

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022 at 1:52 PM, Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org> wrote:

> goncholden goncholden@protonmail.com writes:
>
> > > `emacs-version' is a string, 28.0 is a float. You cannot compare them. 
> > > Stefan suggested to use` emacs-major-version' with 28 (both
> > > integers) instead.
> >
> > It would be convenient if there was a function that could handle
> > floats, so that one can condition not just on a major version, but
> > upon the complete version number.
>
> Well, usually there should be no API-breaking changes between Emacs X.Y
> und X.Z, so version-checks more detailed than major version shouldn't be
> needed.
>
> And there is already
>
> (version<= "28.0" emacs-version)
>
> if you want to test with version strings and have more control over
> minor and even micro version. (Using floats for versions is just plain
> wrong.)
>
> Bye,
> Tassilo

You make a good point about the "No API-Breaking Changes".   Then perhaps
(>= emacs-version "28.0") if one does not like floats.  Although there is
nothing wrong about floats because version numbers can easily be sorted
numerically.  In the old days, strings took over.  I wish scripts could
handle numeric computations better.