> From: Christopher Schultz [mailto:ch...@christopherschultz.net] > Subject: Re: Tomcat Version Numbers
> there's a 6.0.0-alpha, and then a 6.0.0, unqualified. > Does that mean that 6.0.0 was stable -- at least after > the alpha stage? Yes. (I missed the unmarked 6.0.0 leg.) > why was 6.0.2 relegated to beta (and, apparently, > alpha) status? Because there hadn't been enough field testing to consider it stable. As more testing occurred, and more reports received, the marking was upgraded. > I'm sure I'm muddying the waters by using the term "stable" which > generally means API-compatible, not necessarily production-quality. I've always considered "stable" to mean production-quality; it has nothing to do with API compatibility. > why not have a tag progression that looks like this: > 6.0.0-alpha > 6.0.0-beta1 > 6.0.0-beta2 Because there are no changes to an x.y.z level, regardless of how its marking progresses. _Any_ changes require a new dot number. The 6.0.0-alpha and 6.0.0 are identical; only the labeling changed to indicate that the particular level had progressed through more testing. Your suggestion causes no end of confusion, since there will be flavors of 6.0.0 running around with different content. > Again, this is partly because I feel a certain sense of order which > requires releases to be X.0.0. That makes absolutely no sense to me. > My original question was sparked by the fact that 7.0.2 was released > which would, merely by the version number, indicate to me that it was a > stable bugfix release to the 7.0 line. 7.0.2 never got out of beta, nor did any of its 7.0.x predecessors. Why would you think it's stable? > downloading the highest version number available > (7.0.2) might not be such a good idea. A version won't make it into the archives unless it's alpha, beta, or stable - and it will be marked as such, so you have a pretty good idea of how well it's been exercised. If you're looking at SVN, you're on your own. - Chuck THIS COMMUNICATION MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL AND/OR OTHERWISE PROPRIETARY MATERIAL and is thus for use only by the intended recipient. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the e-mail and its attachments from all computers.
