> You separate by . characters and do an integer sort from left to right. It's not that hard to do.
It's not hard to do but it doesn't solve the problem either.
You've probably found libraries where a minor (middle number) version upgrade introduces breaking changes, though that's not supposed to be that way, and you also have no idea whether multiple versions are current (back ports).
What about builds where features have been patched out (hello Debian)? How do you safely express and communicate that via version numbers?
As said above, feature discovery / feature testing are a much better option, as you're testing for exactly what you want to know (can I use this feature?) not for a proxy.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
