[sword-devel] Change to Synodal verse system

[John Austen]

An error in the Synodal verse system (canon_synodal.h) was fixed in 
sword-1.6.2, which is great. Psalms 114:9 was missing from the verse 
system, but has now been included.

My concern is that the fixed verse system has the same name as the old 
one. So the many existing Synodal Sword modules are no longer compatible 
with Sword, and new Synodal modules are not compatible with older Sword 
programs. Since Sword programs and Sword modules are upgraded 
independently from one another, this will cause the many current users 
of Synodal texts great problems and frustrations in the future.

Does anyone have ideas on a solution to this problem?

I'm wondering if in this very special case (a fix to a cannon) we might 
do the following: Give the new (fixed) "Synodal" cannon a new name. Then 
allow both the old "Synodal" and the new Synodal verse systems to remain 
in the codebase together for a reasonable time (maybe a year). Then, 
after most users will have upgraded both their programs and modules for 
other reasons, we can remove the old "Synodal" cannon from the code 
base, keeping only the new one. In this way, most users will never 
notice the transition, which is a very good thing since many Synodal 
users are not necessarily computer savvy enough to be able to diagnose 
and fix such an enigmatic incompatibility on their own.

Thanks,
John