How to handle versioning of sc3-plugins?

[dyfer]

I was trying to update sc3-plugins' cmake to properly get SC version from the upcoming 3.15 release: #429. As of now, when building sc3-plugins against the develop branch of SC, the project version is not set at all.

In the process there was a suggestion that sc3-plugins should keep track of its own version independently from supercollider. Up to now, sc3-plugins would take the version from SC, i.e. it would not report its own version consistent with e.g. git tag.

I'd like us to discuss this, especially that sc3-plugins is in "maintenance mode" and once we (hopefully!) get a package manager for SC, the plugins would be split up.

Currently, the version number in cmake is used to set:

• project version
• cpack package version (idk if that functionality is used at all)
• macOS and Windows readmes

I think we have a few paths forward:

1. leave this as is and the plugins version would not be set, though this would leave the version unset in the places mentioned above
2. set sc3-plugins version from supercollider version as before, updating cmake variables appropriately (so that sc3-plugins would report its version according to the sc version they're built against, i.e. inconsistently with its own version)
3. introduce a proper version setting through a version file (Version.txt? Version.cmake?), like in the main supercollider repo
4. put version directly in the cmake file

For 3 and 4, we could also post which version of SC we are building the plugins against, as suggested by @Spacechild1.

If we go for option 3 or 4, we would need to decide if we keep the version differentiated between -dev, -rcX etc, or if we just set it to 3.15.0. If it was the former, we would need to remember to update it when making releases... which may be irrelevant, if plugins get split up and moved to a package manager.

To make the change minimal, I think I'd lean towards option 2 or 4.

[dyfer]

What are your thoughts @Spacechild1 @capital-G?

[joslloand]

2. set sc3-plugins version from supercollider version as before, updating cmake variables appropriately (so that sc3-plugins would report its version according to the sc version they're built against, i.e. inconsistently with its own version)

My initial feeling would be to go with "as before", in anticipate of the upcoming package manager model.

[Spacechild1]

If I had to choose between 2 and 4, I would pick 4 because it's the "correct" behavior.

I think hardcoding the version in the CMakeLists.txt is fine. Differentiating between development and stable builds would be nice, but probably no worth the hassle at this point.