What do the numbers in a version typically represent (i.e. v1.9.0.1)?

Question

Maybe this is a silly question, but I\'ve always assumed each number delineated by a period represented a single component of the software. If that\'s true, do they ever rep

Answer 1

From the C# AssemblyInfo.cs file you can see the following:

// Version information for an assembly consists of the following four values:
//
//      Major Version
//      Minor Version 
//      Build Number
//      Revision
//
/ You can specify all the values or you can default the Build and Revision Numbers 
// by using the '*' as shown below:
// [assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]

Answer 2

Yup. Major releases add big, new features, may break compatibility or have significantly different dependencies, etc.

Minor releases also add features, but they're smaller, sometimes stripped-down ported versions from beta major release.

If there is a third version number component, it's usually for important bugfixes, and security fixes. If there are more, it really depends so much on product that it's difficult to give general answer.

Answer 3

Numbers can be useful as described by other answers, but consider how they can also be rather meaningless... Sun, you know SUN, java: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 1.5 or 5 then 6. In the good old Apple II version numbers Meant Something. Nowadays, people are giving up on version numbers and going with silly names like "Feisty fig" (or something like that) and "hardy heron" and "europa" and "ganymede". Of course this is far less useful because, you're going to run out of moons of jupiter before you stop changing the program, and since there's no obvious ordering you can't tell which is newer.

Answer 4

There is the Semantic Versioning specification

This is the summary of version 2.0.0:

Given a version number MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, increment the:

1. MAJOR version when you make incompatible API changes,
2. MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner, and
3. PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.

Additional labels for pre-release and build metadata are available as extensions to the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH format.

Answer 5

Major.Minor.Bugs

(Or some variation on that)

Bugs is usually bug fixes with no new functionality.

Minor is some change that adds new functionality but doesn't change the program in any major way.

Major is a change in the program that either breaks old functionality or is so big that it somehow changes how users should use the program.

Answer 6

release.major.minor.revision would be my guess.
But it can vary greatly between products.