Re: git version numbers

On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 11:34:28PM -0400, Jeff King wrote:

In "git w.x.y.z", the decoding is:

  w: not likely to change short of a complete rewrite or something that
     is quite incompatible (i.e., will probably remain "1" for quite a
     while)

  x: when this jumps, it is a "big" version change, meaning there may be
     some minor incompatibilities or new ways of doing things. For
     example, 1.5.0 introduced a lot of usability changes and the
     separate-remotes layout became the default. In 1.6.0, we stopped
     shipping "git-*" in the PATH, and started using some new packfile
     features by default. And so on. If you want to know more, see
     Documentation/RelNotes/1.?.0.txt.

  y: when this jumps, it is a new release cut from master that does not
     have any "big" changes as above. There will be new features and
     some bugfixes. See RelNotes/1.7.?.txt for examples of what gets
     included.

  z: when this jumps, it is a bugfix release based on the feature
     release w.x.y. See RelNotes/1.7.5.?.txt for examples.

Getting more to your actual question, I don't know that we ever use any
particular name like "major" or "minor" for any of them. We do tend to
use the terms "feature release" for w.x.y releases and "bugfix release"
for w.x.y.z.

Ah; I see.  The system I was considering was essentially identical,
except instead of calling it w.x.y.z, they are actually named them in
the form of <super-major>.<major>.<minor>-<optional revision>.  As for
the decoding, it's identical: super-major is an almost never change
number; major is when there's something "big"; minor is when there's a
"release", but it's not "big"; and revision for a bugfix.

Well, thanks for the clarification.

While we're on the topic, though, when I was scouring the web for
information, I found a post [1] which spoke against the traditional
numbering versioning system.  Personally, I disagree and find the
"dating" version cumbersome and uninformative.  So, I was wondering what
your [2] take on this is.


Tim.

[1] http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/02/whats-in-a-version-number-anyway.html
[2] By "you", I mean anybody in the list, of course.

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