python module for handling version of software

Question

I am looking for a python module / library which will be to operate on 'software versions'... Which means, for example:

• compare versions "1.0-SNAPSHOT" and "1.1-SNAPSHOT" and tell which is newer
• increment "1.0.1-SNAPSHOT" to "1.0.2-SNAPSHOT"
• make "1.0" from "1.0-SNAPSHOT" and same with '-RELEASE'

Yes, versions naming comes in this came from java (maven) world - my python part should operate on them..

Any ideas?

Answer 1

distutils has some support for this.

>>> from distutils.version import LooseVersion  # or StrictVersion
>>> LooseVersion("1.0-SNAPSHOT") < LooseVersion("1.1-SNAPSHOT")
True
>>> v = LooseVersion("1.0.1-SNAPSHOT")
>>> v.version
[1, 0, 1, '-SNAPSHOT']

You'll have to do the incrementing and other manipulation yourself though.