+1 from me. No more wondering what the next version number will be. No more wondering what version I can upgrade from to use the new release.
-Jeremiah On Apr 10, 2025 at 3:54:13 PM, Josh McKenzie <jmcken...@apache.org> wrote: > This came up in the thread from Jon on "5.1 should be 6.0". > > I think it's important that our release versioning is clear and simple. > The current status quo of: > - Any .MINOR to next MAJOR is supported > - Any .MAJOR to next MAJOR is supported > - We reserve .MAJOR for API breaking changes > - except for when we get excited about a feature and want to .MAJOR to > signal that > - or we change JDK's and need to signal that > - or any of another slew of caveats that require digging into NEWS.txt > to see what the hell we're up to. :D > - And all of our CI pain that ensues from the above > > In my opinion the above is overly complex and could use simplification. I > also believe us re-litigating this on every release is a waste of time and > energy that could better be spent elsewhere on the project or in life. It's > also a signal about how confusing our release versioning has been for the > community. > > Let's leave aside the decision about whether we scope releases based on > time or based on features; let's keep this to the discussion about how we > version our releases. > > So here's what I'm thinking: a new release strategy that doesn't use > .MINOR of semver. Goals: > - Simplify versioning for end users > - Provide clearer contracts for users as to what they can expect in > releases > - Simplify support for us (CI, merges, etc) > - Clarify our public API deprecation process > > Structure / heuristic: > - Online upgrades are supported for all GA supported releases at time of > new .MAJOR > - T-1 releases are guaranteed API compatible > - We use a deprecate-then-remove strategy for API breaking changes > > This would translate into the following for our upcoming releases > (assuming we stick with 3 supported majors at any given time): > 6.0: > - 5.0, 4.1, 4.0 online upgrades are supported (grandfather window) > - We drop support for 4.0 > - API compatibility is guaranteed w/5.0 > 7.0: > - 6.0, 5.0, 4.1 online upgrades are supported (grandfather window) > - We drop support for 4.1 > - API compatibility is guaranteed w/6.0 > 8.0: > - 7.0, 6.0, 5.0 online upgrades are supported (fully on new paradigm) > - We drop support for 5.0 > - API compatibility guaranteed w/7.0 > > So: what do we think? >
