If the "rational version number" spec allows arbitrary alphanumeric components, then I can write something like $MAJ.$MIC.$MIN.snapshot $COUNT. Any tool which wants to compare my version numbers to each other will do the right thing -- newer snapshots are higher than older snapshots, snapshots are higher than the release (i.e. the same version string with the ".snapshot$COUNT" part truncated off), and newer releases are higher than any snapshot of an older release. So far so good. Now, should the "rational version number spec" *also* encourage those of us who use this technique to use the same spelling for ".snapshot" / "-r" / ".post"? This would not effect any version comparison, but it would be nice for us humans if everyone chose the same word when they mean the same thing. Regards, Zooko