[Python-Dev] version compare function into main lib

[Eric Smith]

Martin v. Löwis wrote:
>> Correct me if I wrong, but shouldn't Python include function for
>> version comparisons?
> 
> On the packaging summit yesterday, people agreed that yes, we should
> have something like that in the standard library, and it should be more
> powerful than what distutils currently offers.

Yes.

> There was no conclusion of how specifically that functionality should
> be offered; several people agreed that Python should mandate a standard
> format, which it is then able to compare. So you might not be able to
> spell it "10.3.40-beta", but perhaps "10.3.40b1" or "10.3.40~beta".

I got the impression that people are generally happy with what 
setuptools provides for version parsing and comparison.

Does anyone think that's not a good model?

Eric.