Software versioning

Question

what is the method behind a software version numbering and what are the most popular and effective methods.

If you have a method that you like to use feel free to explain what it is and why, I feel this is a topic that can be discussed about. I know people may say this isn't a big deal and using anyone method of version naming but myself I find it a very interesting topic to share and see how other people name their software versions.

Answer 1

Actually, there have been many standards... so many of them that it varies by industry, vendor, technology, continent, management preference, etc.

https://xkcd.com/927/

When you get to a software project that needs a naming convention... you'll discover constraints which steer the choice. The tool chain for version control, builds, and release management will impose some practical limits. The distribution model, customer market, and product support lifecycle may also influence the naming convention.

Unless or until you're making software for regulated critical industry organizations... try to follow these guidelines:
* look at the simplest options in your tool chain.
* keep it simple.
* be consistent.
* leave room for the unexpected.

Look at a few dozen of the major open source applications... follow their lead, people will be familiar with those patterns.

Answer 2

SemVer is one popular choice: http://semver.org

Answer 3

@igor B

Thanks for the read, after reading it I have a bit better understanding of how I "could" determine the version number of my software.

I simply had asked this question in case someone had wondered about this and had thought of publishing something to the public and want to know the method and quite frankly the madness that is giving your software a version name. I have looked at it in the past but i never really got a solid answer or method behind it all.... I am actually really shocked there isn't really a "standard" for all of this even more shocking with how long programming has been apart of our lives for so many years....

I have read that you could simply give it a name such as what apple uses "Snow Leopard" or some have even said to use the date you release something ... which i found strange to do.

Anyway if their are people that are interested in this topic and software version naming and wish to share their ideas and their methods of version naming feel free to upvote. I'd be really interested to see what other people think.

Answer 4

Actually There is no Standard.
nur i usually sie
main-version.build.build-fixes.char-that-indicates-build-stability
an example use
1.23.4s
Version 1
Build 23
4th Bug fix
stable build

Answer 5

@igor B

Thanks I'll give that a read and determine if it better explains my curiosity.

Answer 6

i dont think this answer best discribes everything.
it seems very vague to me. doesnt exactly explains fully.

what determins the "version" & "build" and if i were to use the third number for bug fixes... i believe it would be tedious to jot down number of bug fixes wouldnt there be a better method than just "bug fixes" .

Answer 7

thanks daniel for the advice!

Answer 8

Using release date for versioning has some benefits:

- multiple release versions sort easily

- you don't need to worry about uniqueness, unless you're releasing multiple times a day

- it's easy to tell when a particular version was released