On Wed, 30 Nov 2016, Henry B (Hank) Hotz, CISSP wrote: > So it’s no longer possible to have non-numeric version numbers? > > Please understand, I don’t really care. The new system is logical enough, > even if unconventional. Just wondering what the actual reason was.
This unconventional system has one advantage: the version number never goes "back" from 7.0.rc1 rc2 rc3 prereleases to 7.0. Packaging systems those days employ various "hacks" to understand that "2.rcX" is actually "less than "2.0". I am annoyed a bit with software like node that reports something like "v8.0.0" in the earliest git master code which is the same version number that might be releasesd in a year. "7.0.1", "7.0.2", "7.0.3" can be bumped as we go in the git development and they can progress over time. This is important especially since git is everywhere there are no SVN-style linear version numbers available. so I'd say unconventional, yes, but possibly useful. And I never like ".0" releases anyway :) Marcin