[Freeciv-Dev] Version numbers should indicate compatibility

[mueller <mueller@xxxxxxxx>]

The capability strings currently used in servers are useful, however
I would like to advocate the following versioning system (I don't
think this has been formalized yet):

Whenever a server change occurs that *requires* a client upgrade,
the second digit of the version number is increased and the others
go to 0. Example:    1.11.4 becomes 1.20.0

The next clients could then be named anything like 1.20.1 or
1.21.3 if they're compatible with the current server. Same
goes for server changes which do not require client upgrades,
e.g. bugfixes.

(Alternately, the third digit could be used, but that would leave
only the last number for client updates which don't require
server updates).

Once that requirement has been formalized, we can omit version 
numbers from the connect dialog and only display servers that are
known to be compatible with the current client. Also, we could
tell users in the metaserver dialog when they HAVE to upgrade
their client.

Finally, I vote for a very low number of such server upgrades.
Only if the server stays stable for quite a while we can expect
the clients included in major Linux distributions to still 
work when they arrive on the desks of users. Half a year from
the distribution snapshot till the last buyers get it is 
realistic, so major server upgrades should be restricted to 
once or at most twice per year.

Opinions?

  -Urban