labeling/description of (AIX) releases, add a "release date" variable?

[Michael Felt <ma...@gmail.com>]

As I looked through the "examples" I found a variable named VMMN - no idea
what it is for - but I noticed that it looks a lot like a date.
I looked, but did not find a DATE value, to supplement the VERSION, that I
am thinking of adding to the description.

The basic conventions are as follows, according to dicumentation (
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.genprogc/doc/genprogc/pkging_sw4_install.htm
)
Package and Fileset Naming Conventions

Use the following conventions when naming a software package and its
filesets:

   - A package name (*PackageName*) should begin with the product name. If
   a package has only one installable fileset, the fileset name can be the
   same as the *PackageName*. All package names must be unique.
   - A fileset name has the form:

   ProductName.PackageName.FilesetName.extension

   where:
      - ProductName identifies the product or solution group.
      - PackageName identifies a functional group within the product.
      - FilesetName (optional) identifies a specific functional set of
      files and libraries to be installed.

Elsewhere there is a simple sentence (note phrase "software product")
 * The name of the software product (for example, bos.adt)

I think, as a software product, the name, for AIX, ASF.httpd for (Apache
Software Foundation HTTPD) is the way to go.

The initial fileset will be ASF.httpd.rte (run-time-environment).
In the future I will be adding:

   - a fileset for the license, and require acceptance
   - the manual pages as optional installation
   - web documentation as optional installation
   - apr component as optional part (so that separate apr could be used
   instead) - this will require some pre_i (pre install scripts) to verify
   that apr is coming from somewhere
   - What obviously needs to be added are scripts for guaranteeing the
   UserName and GroupName in /etc/httpd.conf exist, or are created at
   installation. My personal opinion is that nobody/nobody and daemon/daemon
   are poor choices. They are default accounts on some systems - and "user"
   software should not be installed on "system defaults" - imho. I will
   probably go for httpd/httpd - as asfhttpd is harder to read, and 8
   character names tend to mess up file listings. ASFhttpd is easy enough to
   read, but it is still 8 characters; however, it also contains capital
   letters and I try to avoid cap letters in application binaries.

FYI: I have been installing and executing on both AIX 5.3 TL7 and AIX 6.1
TL6 and the program at least lists the modules built-in as as loadable
module.The AIX installp listing as shows:

# installp -L -d build/aix
ASF.httpd:ASF.httpd.rte:2.4.0.0::I:T:::::N:httpd version 2.4.0 for powerpc
Apache Software Foundation::::0::


   - Back to original comment - I believe it could be useful additional
   information to have the release date in the description, e.g.

ASF.httpd:ASF.httpd.rte:2.2.22.0::I:T:::::N:httpd 2.2.22 (20120131) for
powerpc Apache Software Foundation::::0::

Having a "date" variable makes it easier for 'users'/sys admins to see how
old/new a version is, rather than trying to serialize based on some long
number that I am sure is there somewhere.

Regards,
Michael