Checking Plug-in Dependency Ranges

Author: Eike Stepper

A plug-in optionally specifies dependencies on other plug-ins and as part of each such dependency specification, can indicate the range of versions of that dependency with which it will function correctly. The range is specified by indicating the version of the lower bound, whether the range includes or excludes the lower bound, the version of the upper bound, and whether the range includes or excludes the upper bound. It's good policy to specify each dependency's range with an inclusive lower bound and an exclusive upper bound (and of course to test the full range, though the latter is an issue outside the scope of the Version Management Tool). The version manager checks whether each dependency of each managed plug-in properly specifies a full range with an inclusive lower bound and an exclusive upper bound. It produces an error for each dependency that violates this guideline.