On 16-01-2013, at 2:17 PM, Frank Shearar <frank.shearar at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> But I'm tired of arguing. Please propose a means that I can, with an
> absolute minimum of effort find the sources file corresponding to a
> given Squeak version, both for 4.4 and for arbitrary versions in the
> future.
> 
> I repeat: _all I want_ is a _simple_ correspondence between a released
> Squeak and the source file that it needs. One that a shell script can
> calculate. One that doesn't involve scraping links off a web page.


My suggestion, for what it's worth - 
a) forget naming the individual files by version/update level etc (for releases  - for ongoing work when updates are being loaded it makes some sense)
b) name the *directories*
c) document that users should keep the image/changes files for release numpty-ump in a directory separate to their files for release diddly-squat.
d) the best places to keep the VM and .sources file varies by platform. For OS X it could well make sense to keep it in VM bundle, though that might end up with a copy in each version of a VM during development. Disc is cheap, so is it really a problem? For RISC OS I've *always* kept the sources file inside the VM application folder (which is essentially what Apple copied the bundle idea from), For Windows and unices I have no idea what is best because I simply don't use them anymore. Would it make sense to put a suitable link in each release's directory, pointing back to a real file? Links are supposed to work, aren't they?
e) for release filesets stored on squeak.org I'd suggest a directory for the release, subdirectories for each platform with the files set out however it suits the platform, another pseudo-platform with the bare sources/image/changelog/readme and quite possibly links from within the platform subtrees back to those 'originals'. 
f) in cases where the same file is used in several releases - such as the .sources, obviously - use a link if possible so it really is the same file.

Proffered pseudo-tree on squeak.org
release_wibble/
  rawfiles/
     release_wibble-2768.image
     release_wibble-2768.changes
     release_wibble-2768.sources
  RISC_OS/
    squeak.image (linked to ../rawfiles/release_wibble-2768.image)
    etc
    !Squeak/
      !RunImage
      sources (linked to ../../rawfiles/release_wibble-2768.sources)
      plugins/
        etc
      etc
    squeak.changes
release_duckfart/
  rawfiles/
     release_duckfart-6502.image
     release_duckfart-6502.changes
     release_duckfart-6502.sources (linked to ../../release_wibble/release_wibble-2768.sources)
  RISC_OS/
    squeak.image (linked to ../rawfiles/release_duckfart-6502.image)
    etc
    !Squeak/
      !RunImage
      sources (linked to ../../rawfiles/release_duckfart-6502.sources)
      plugins/
        etc
      etc
    squeak.changes

Yes, if you dump the image and changes in the same directory as a previous pair you might have a problem with overwriting them. But since you really ought to be saving the 'virgin' files somewhere safe, starting up the new image and immediately saving it under a meaningful name in a working directory, that shouldn't happen.

tim
--
tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
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