Subject: Re: [bug#74137] Commit hashes in the version-string.

From: Rostislav Svoboda <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:32:11 +0100

Hello,

Let's continue the general discussion under a different subject:
Commit hashes in the version-string.

> I think we should use git-version whenever the commit field of a package refers to a raw commit

IMO, the git commit hash should always be part of the package version
when the source code is managed by git (which applies to the majority
of the ~30k packages Guix currently offers).

The commit hash is the only reliable piece of information specifying
exactly what code is being packaged. While tagging and versioning
policies usually work well for large, popular projects, smaller
projects - like vi-tilde-fringe - often have inconsistent, unclear, or
absent versioning policies. In the worst case, maintainers may even
move or delete tags after we've packaged the project, causing
unexpected hash mismatches in guix hash.

Including the commit hash directly in the package version addresses
these ambiguities, providing clarity and reliability regardless of
external tagging practices.

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.

Cheers,
Bost