[Vm-dev] mantis http://bugs.squeak.org/view.php?id=7349

[David T. Lewis]

On Wed, May 06, 2009 at 08:28:13AM -0700, Andreas Raab wrote:
> 
> One thing we could do is for the next generation of VMs which have a new 
> image format won't be referred to as Squeak 3x etc. to up the 
> interpreter proxy major number and use only that mechanism. Thoughts?

I don't have a clear idea of what the roadmap to next generation VM's
looks like. We have a lot of interesting projects and new ideas (Hydra,
iPhone, Cog, Exupery, Croquet, ...).

I have a general sense that it is the responsibility of the image to
identify its image format (hence what it requires of a VM) by means of
an imageFormatVersionNumber known to the image and saved in the file
header when saving the image. And it is the responsibility of a VM to
know its capabilities in order to determine if it can interpret an image
of some declared imageFormatVersionNumber.

My guess would be that yes, we will soon be due for a new interpreter proxy
major number, but no that mechanism is not sufficient to identify the next
generation VM(s). Specifically, knowing the major/minor interpreter proxy
numbers will not tell you if a VM has the necessary capabilities to support
the requirements of an image with a given imageFormatVersionNumber.

Dave