There was some discussion recently (in the thread on Apache and 
iAS) on version numbers of Oracle and how confusing they have 
become. 

Here is a document that explains the version numbers, at least for 
the RDBMS. It lost it's authorship along the way, so forgive me for 
not crediting it.

"If you have ever wondered what an Oracle release number
really means; included below is the break down and how to find out 
what you are running via a query against a Data Dictionary view.  It 
has changed a little starting with Release 9.2.

        For the Release number:   9.2.0.1.0  ,  the significance of 
each number  (reading from left to right)  is shown below:

        Number                          Significance______________

         9         1         Major database release number
         2         1         Database maintenance release number
         0         1         Application server release number
         1         1        Component specific release number
         0         1        Platform specific release number

        ( Starting with release 9.2, maintenance releases of Oracle 
are denoted by a change to the second digit of a release number. 
In previous releases, the third digit indicated a particular 
maintenance release.)

        Major Database Release Number

        This is the most general identifier. It represents a major new
edition (or version) of the software that contains significant new
functionality.

        Database Maintenance Release Number

        This digit represents a maintenance release level. Some new 
features may also be included.

        Application Server Release Number

        This digit reflects the release level of the Oracle9i Application
Server (Oracle9iAS).

        Component Specific Release Number

        This digit identifies a release level specific to a component.
Different components can have different numbers in this position 
depending upon, for example, component patch sets or interim 
releases.

        Platform Specific Release Number

        This digit identifies a platform specific release. Usually this is 
a patch set. Where different platforms require the equivalent patch 
set, this digit will be the same across the effected platforms.


        How to Check Your Current Release Number:

        To identify the release of the Oracle database server that is
currently installed and to see the release levels of other Oracle 
components you are using, query the Data Dictionary view 
PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION. 

        Here is a sample query.

          (Yes, the old instructor part of me wants your Sql*Plus 
session to be readable, so included are 3 Sql*Plus commands 
before the query since each of these column widths are 65.    :-)     
    )

        COL PRODUCT   FORMAT A40
        COL VERSION    FORMAT A15
        COL STATUS      FORMAT A15 

        SELECT  *  FROM   PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION;

        PRODUCT                                            VERSION
STATUS            
        ----------------------------------------            ---------------
---------------   
        NLSRTL                                                  9.2.0.1.0
Production        
        Oracle9i Enterprise Edition                  9.2.0.1.0
Production        
        PL/SQL                                                   9.2.0.1.0
Production        
        TNS for Solaris:                                     9.2.0.1.0
Production  


        Optionally, you can query against the V$VERSION view to 
see component-level information as well.

        (Other product release levels may increment independently of the database 
server.)"

Regards,
Chris Gait
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