Re: [libvirt] Switch to a time based version number rule

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 04:01:56PM +0200, Martin Kletzander wrote: > On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 01:56:54PM +0100, Daniel P. Berrange wrote: > > Currently libvirt uses a 3 digit version number, except when it uses > > a 4 digit version number. We have the following rules > > > > - major - no one has any clue about when we should bump this > > - minor - bump this when some "significant"[*] features appear > > - micro - bump this on each new release > > - extra - bump this for stable branch releases > > > > [*] for a definition of "significant" that no one knows > > > > Now consider our actual requirements > > > > - A number that increments on each monthly release > > - A number that can be incremented for stable branch releases > > > > Ok, the micro + extra digits deal with our two actual requirements, so > > one may ask what is the point of the major + minor digits ? > > > > In 11 years of libvirt development we've only bumped the major digit > > once, and we didn't have any real reason why we chose to the bump the > > major digit, instead of continuing to bump the minor digit. It just > > felt like we ought to have a 1.0 release after 7+ years. Our decisions > > about when to bump the minor digit have not been that much less arbitray. > > We just look at what features are around and randomly decide if any feel > > "big enough" to justify a minor digit bump. > > > > Or if we had enough releases, then we bump it, pick one random feature > and say it was because of that =) > > I, for one, like the idea. I would just start with 2.0.0 on the first > release in 2017. But that's just to have the full year in each such > release. Mostly I just want to start it now because chances are we'll forget about it by the time Jan 2017 comes around :-) Also since it'll be a slight change to stable release numbering (from 4 back down to 3 digits) it'd be nice to start doing that now, rather than in the middle of a holiday period where people are half asleep/drunk/not paying attention :-P

Regards, Daniel -- |: http://berrange.com -o- http://www.flickr.com/photos/dberrange/ :| |: http://libvirt.org -o- http://virt-manager.org :| |: http://autobuild.org -o- http://search.cpan.org/~danberr/ :| |: http://entangle-photo.org -o- http://live.gnome.org/gtk-vnc :|