[sword-devel] Alternate Versification

[Jonathan Morgan]

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 12:44 AM, Troy A. Griffitts
<scribe at crosswire.org> wrote:
> Jonathan Morgan wrote:
>>
>> I think that the versification should be shown as part of the module
>> information (after all, it is part of the module configuration),
>
> Thanks for the comments Jon.  It does currently kindof work as you describe;
> you can get it from the VerseKey of a Bible or commentary module with the
> VerseKey::getVersificationSystem().  So though not DIRECTLY obtainable from
> the module as you suggestion, you can get it from the module's key.

My thought process was largely:
1. Surely the versification is part of the conf file.
2. Surely we can get all entries from the conf file (and certainly
BPBible does allow you to view all entries from the conf file, though
it doesn't make it easy to view ones other than a few "standard"
entries).

I downloaded the Leningrad test module, and certainly you can get
Versification: Leningrad in the module information screen in BPBible.

>> and
>>
>> possibly it should have a more presentable name or more information
>> about a versification.
>
> Interesting idea, but I personally can't think of what that information
> might be or what name would better and still accurately represent what a
> specific v11n system represents.  I tried brainstorming from your
> suggestion, but concluded that most users don't even know that Bibles use
> different v11n systems, and the ones that do probably will understand the
> names we've picked-- or else we probably should pick different names.  What
> do you think?

I hope people understand it who have to deal with it.  As you say, I
suspect I was thinking too much with a developer mindset and most
people won't care about versification so long as it just works.

> I just added a public method to expose the list of registered v11n systems,
> per DM's request.  This will result in exactly what you describe below
> (minus Luther currently).  If you still feel it is valuable to have
> different presentable names or more data, please let me know and provide
> examples, though this isn't likely to be anything we add for this release.

I have a feeling more information of the kind that circulates on the
mailing list is needed for ones like Leningrad (then again, if people
don't know what it means then they probably shouldn't be creating
modules for it, since I gather it is a comparatively specialised
versification).  I also cannot yet think clearly what that information
might look like, so I'll hold off on it until I do think.

> On the topic, we are currently considering which v11n systems to bundle with
> the 1.6.0 release.  Chris has quite a few available.  It is our current plan
> to shoot for the most base set of systems for scholarly Biblical studies.
>  In my mind, this includes:
> WLC (Leningrad), LXX, and GNT (currently KJV comes close with the exception
> of approx. 2 verse splits).  So, bottom line, we would add one more system
> to the bundle: LXX
>
> New systems can be packaged with subsequent 1.6.x releases, but we need a
> useful limited set initially, and I think this is a good balance to obtain
> that.
>
> Any thoughts?

Speaking from a developer's mind-set, unusual versifications may not
be supported brilliantly, and so I don't think it makes real sense
having versifications unless there are modules to use them.  Therefore
I'm inclined to think it's more a module developer question what is
worth supporting: I don't have enough knowledge of the available
versifications to make any useful comments about what should be
included or excluded.

Jon