Naming scheme for development versions

[terhorstd]

To be able to also install unreleased development versions, one could imagine a scheme where PACKAGE, VERSION and VARIANT are used in a way denoting the explicit git commit or a reference thereto.
Some possible options do exist (nest only as an example):

• nest-simulator/master/d8cb2976b
  • VERSION would be would be non-numeric "master", and comparisons with numbered versions may turn out unexpectedly
  • VARIANT being a hash will become confusing as soon as more than a few versions are installed. A symlink or rename of the module file to "d8cb2976b-somedescription" could be done, however – keeping the variant name parsable as git hash.
  • VARIANT is expected to be human only string, so being a hash does not raise problems in sorting or anything (just in the humans).
• nest-simulator-dev/d8cb2976b/somedescription
  • PACKAGE would effectively separate the dev and stable builds; also in the usage with a distinct module load line. It could be thought of as a a kind of staging package for the stable installs under nest-simulator.
  • VERSION sort order does not convey and "older" vs. "later" relationship and may not compare well with numbered dev versions (if also used)
  • VARIANT would be a free name, that can make the version human recognizable.
• nest-simulator-dev/d8cb2976b-somedescription/default
  • VERSION would contain hash and description and would need to be parsed to extract the two different informations stored in the same field.
  • VARIANT could still be used for it's original purpose
  • PACKAGE does not need to be seprarate -dev, but would probably make sense.