On 05-Jun-2002 Matthew Weier O'Phinney wrote: > On Wed, 2002-06-05 at 11:46, Sean 'Shaleh' Perry wrote: >> > >> > What are the developers' thoughts on the matter? >> > >> >> what makes 1.0 sound better than 0.60.2 or 10.3.1 or ab.de.e.4? In my >> experience the only important thing is that you can look at the version and >> compare it to the one you have and that there is a new revision somewhat >> often >> (depends on the project for what "often" means). >> >> I do not believe blackbox is heading for a 1.0 release. Or maybe it will. >> Either way it is just one more number in my book. >> > Actually, it's not so much that 1.0 or 10.3.1 sound better -- for me > it's that 0. at the beginning... If a "1.0" version is never planned or > never likely, why use the 0. in the first place? Jamin talked of the > stigma of a 1.0 release, but in my experience, both personally and > professinally, a 0.x release has more stigma as it connotates a lack of > stability. Some of my previous employers would never consider installing > a 0.x (and typically even a 1.x) version of software based on this > stigma. >
Programmers often have this concept that things are abstract because we often deal in the abstract. To me 1.0 < 1.1 as long as I know that those two numbers mean something. ie. E is at 0.16 is that < my 0.65.1? No, two different release types. I think the simple decimal counting was done to appease non coders who understand that "2 is better than 1 and is even better". > But this isn't even the point. My main question isn't even so much a > criticism of using this practice -- it's actually more one of > curiousity. Why choose one versioning/release scheme over another? For > example, why would one developer like integer increments (1.x, 2.x, > etc.) vs decimal increments? why would one developer prefer > alphanumerics for their releases (1.xa, 1.xb, etc.)? > Every programmer I know reads versions differently and likes to version slightly differently. 1.xa vs. 1.xb might be that the a,b,c releases are bug fix only and the numbers are for new features or code changes. > What constitutes a reason for changing the numbering or increasing the > version (i.e., why go from 6.2 to 7.0, for instance; or from 0.62.x to > 0.65.x)? > I jumped from 0.62 to 0.65 because 65 is halfway between 60 and 70 which is what I wanted to represent 0.65 being -- the middle ground for laying the road to the next big release which I hope will be 0.70.0. Plus with the heavy internal changes going to 63 just did not seem to fit but this was not 0.70 either. > I'm curious in large degree because I've been "professionally" doing web > programming for somewhere around 18 months now (and no, I'm not fresh > out of college -- this was a career change for me) -- and I'm still > trying to determine how I want to do versioning and releases for myself. > I use CVS to keep track of my changes (and occasionally roll-back -- > oof!) and often tag releases. At the company for which I work, we > usually simply tag them with the particular date, a bid number, or > project code, or combination of all three. In the end, I realize that > the only important criteria is what works for me -- but I'm still trying > to determine that -- and discussion such as this helps immensely. > as I mentioned at the start we name or number things to make it easier for humans to deal with. Release numbers are like DNS or any other mapping it helps us put a concrete label on something. Debian uses release numbers too (our 3.0 release is almost finished) but nearly everyone refers to our releases by the names we give them (ie woody is almost ready). The point is just use what works for you. When at work use what works for your group/dept/whatever. The key is define what a version number means and stick to the meaning. If you see 1.2.3 as a version what does it mean? If that was a linux kernel it would mean the 2nd stable branch of the 1.x series, 3rd release and 1.3.3 would be the 2nd unstable branch of the 1.x series, 3rd release. For blackbox, 0.61.1 means "minor changes from 0.61.0". perhaps bug fixes or small feature enhancements. Seeing the version go to 0.62.0 should indicate a more substantial change but still fairly similar to the 0.61.x series. I personally find release numbers based on dates to be of little use. Is the blackbox.16may02 release a big difference from the 16apr02 release?
