[tex-live] tlmgr: Is it possible to see the version number of a ctan package?

[Robin Fairbairns]

Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2009/11/30 Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns at cl.cam.ac.uk>:
> > Heiko Oberdiek <oberdiek at uni-freiburg.de> wrote:
> >
> >> > i have now changed the catalogue repository.  as i understand it, this
> >>
> >> Is there a need to do the update of the version number *manually*?
> >
> > there's no fixed way of recording a version number, and while your way
> > is common, it's by no means a majority (and parsing it, without latex in
> > the loop, might be challenging ... non trivial in an automatic
> > procedure)
>
> \ProvidesPackage, \ProvidesClass and \ProvidesFile require date
> formatted as YYYY/MM/DD followed by any text.

no they don't.  if there _is_ an optional argument, and _if_ it starts
with a number, the macros assume there's a date.  putting the version
number in the optional following text string is a mere convention (which
iirc is, or was, once recommended); not everyone bothers.

> There is no rule for
> version number. Versioning systems may also insert some information.
> In my packages I put it to \PackageInfo or \ClassInfo because dollars
> make no harm there and the identification is printed in the log file
> which will give me useful information if somebody reports a bug. But I
> admit that it may not be easy to find it automatically. And other
> package developers will do it in a different way.

the real problem is that there are as many ways of specifying the
version number as the assembled human minds have so far conceived.

how about \ProvidesPackage{foo}[\filedate\ \fileversion\ foo bar]
(moderately common).

hence my assertion that, in the absence of a tex processor, it may be
difficult (automatically) to determine things.

(i don't have a runnable tex processor on my archive machine ;-)

robin