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# 19. Library version mechanism

## 19.1. Introduction

.intro: This describes the design of a mechanism to be used to determine the version (that is, product, version, and release) of an MPS library.

## 19.2. History

.hist.0: Incomplete document. David Jones, 1998-08-19.

.hist.1: Converted from MMInfo database design document. Richard Brooksby, 2002-06-07.

.hist.2: Converted to reStructuredText. Gareth Rees, 2013-03-11.

## 19.3. Readership

.readership: Any MPS developer.

## 19.4. Source

.source: Various requirements demand such a mechanism. See request.epcore.160021: There is no way to tell which version and release of the MM one is using.

## 19.5. Overview

.overview: See design.mps.version for discussion and design of versions of other aspects of the software. This document concentrates on a design for determining which version of the library one has linked with. There are two aspects to the design, allowing humans to determine the version of an MPS library, and allowing programs to determine the version of an MPS library. Only the former is currently designed (a method for humans to determine which version of an MPS library is being used).

.overview.impl: The overall design is to have a distinctive string compiled into the library binary. Various programs and tools will be able to extract the string and display it. The string will identify the version of the MPS begin used.

## 19.6. Architecture

.arch.structure: The design consists of three components:

1. .arch.string: A string embedded into any delivered library binaries (which will encode the necessary information).
2. .arch.proc: A process by which the string is modified appropriately whenever releases are made.
3. .arch.tool: A tool and its documentation (it is expected that standard tools can be used). The tool will be used to extract the version string from a delivered library or an executable linked with the library.

.arch.not-here: Only the string component (arch.string) is directly described here. The other components are described elsewhere. (where?)

The string will contain information to identify the following items:

1. .arch.string.platform: the platform being used.
2. .arch.string.product: the name of the product.
3. .arch.string.variety: the variety of the product.
4. .arch.string.version: the version and release of the product.

## 19.7. Implementation

.impl.file: The string itself is a declared C object in the file `version.c` (impl.c.version). It consists of a concatenation of various strings which are defined in other modules.

.impl.variety: The string containing the name of the variety is the expansion of the macro `MPS_VARIETY_STRING` defined by `config.h` (impl.h.config).

.impl.product: The string containing the name of the product is the expansion of the macro `MPS_PROD_STRING` defined by `config.h` (impl.h.config).

.impl.platform: The string containing the name of the platform is the expansion of the macro `MPS_PF_STRING` defined by `mpstd.h` (impl.h.mpstd).

.impl.date: The string contains the date and time of compilation by using the `__DATE__` and `__TIME__` macros defined by ISO C §6.8.8.

.impl.version: The string contains the version and release of the product. This is by the expansion of the macro `MPS_RELEASE` which is defined in this module (`version.c`).

.impl.usage: To make a release, the `MPS_RELEASE` macro (see impl.c.version.release) is edited to contain the release name (for example, `"release.epcore.brisling"`), and then changed back immediately after the release checkpoint is made.

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