I recently installed a couple of user ados into a Stata 9.2 system but
couldn't run them because they were identified as version 10 (and had
a *.sthlp help file). On inspection, the ados made no use of advanced
version 10 code and probably could have been identified as version 8
(one of them was graphical). I was able to run the routines after
editing them to read version 8.
I found an old discussion thread regarding this at [
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2004-01/msg00396.html ] and am
just wondering, philosophically, I guess, about submitters of adofiles
versioning higher than necessary and locking out users of prior Stata
versions (unless the users manually edit the version number as I did).
I realize that, unless an ado writer has access to earlier Stata
installations, they have no way of absolutely confirming the program
will work on a version prior to the one in which they developed it.
This may not be an issue to most users, but I am wondering if it is
worth a FAQ? There is a very dated Stata FAQ regarding version
numbers at [ http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/lang/stbado.html ] that
doesn't really address the issue I'm discussing.
I realize users editing existing ados do so at their own risk and have
to be aware of the consequences of a -adoupdate , update- if a new
version of the edited ado becomes available. It might be wise to
always save the edited version as origname8.ado to avoid an overwrite.
This numbering convention is discussed in the older thread regarding
versioning.
DCE
--
David Elliott
Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.
Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.
-- Robert A. Heinlein (American science-fiction Writer, 1907-1988)
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