Clean out or vault old ncurses test versions

[Brian Inglis]

On 2023-10-22 14:13, Jon Turney via Cygwin-apps wrote:
> On 22/10/2023 16:42, Brian Inglis via Cygwin-apps wrote:
> 
>> I should probably just skip the sequential "release" prefix to the date suffix,
>> as 6.4-2023???? is presumably greater than 6.4-?.2023????, and we have not yet 
>> implemented EPOCH:V-R dating yet, correct?
> 
> Yes, 2023???? (where ? stands for some digit) is bigger than any of the numbers 
> in the range 4...13.
> 
> Epochs are supported (theoretically), but I don't think you need to use them here.
> 
>> ...and hopefully they ignore the sequential number.
> 
> Again, the question isn't about the meaning that a person ascribes to the 
> version number (because you can't reasonably expect people to examine every 
> package in detail), it's about the actions that setup will automatically take.
> 
>> Just to be clear about the process details and best practice:
>>
>> I should create a dummy local dist tree for superseded versions,
>> with the tar file names prefixed with "-" and zero length,
> 
> You don't need to do this.  This removes files (which I think you have already 
> done)
> 
>> and P-V-R.hint files replaced with override.hint files,
>> each containing "replace-versions: V-R..." for old versions,
>> then sftp upload that dist tree in a similar manner to cygport upload?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> But if you are really going to upload a 6.4-2023MMDD sometime soon (or anything 
> greater than 6.4-13, in fact), you don't need to bother, because that does 
> supersede the removed test versions (and so any installation of them will get 
> upgraded).

Thanks Jon,

I probably will do that in future.

For the inevitable future messes, wanted to build and test a script to make a 
package obsolete with dummy files, which will replicate the current package dist 
tree with each .hint replicated by replace-versions: ... override.hint and all 
other (tar) files replaced with a zero length minus prefixed basename, uploaded 
and readied by lftp.

I managed to run, test, and clean up, before my ISP connection went flakely.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer     but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry