Commit 967deb43 authored by Daniel Stenberg's avatar Daniel Stenberg
Browse files

VERSIONS: clarify our versioning concept 

Drop the pre-release part from this text as we don't use that in
practise since many years.

Update the phrasing to reflect our more strict interpretation:
http://curl.haxx.se/mail/lib-2011-08/0064.html
parent 3d919440

docs/VERSIONS

+11 −18
Original line number Diff line number Diff line
@@ -11,32 +11,25 @@ Version Numbers and Releases 


 The version numbering is always built up using the same system:



        X.Y[.Z][-preN]

        X.Y[.Z]



 Where

   X is main version number

   Y is release number

   Z is patch number

   N is pre-release number



 One of these numbers will get bumped in each new release. The numbers to the

 right of a bumped number will be reset to zero. If Z is zero, it may not be

 included in the version number. The pre release number is only included in

 pre releases (they're never used in public, official, releases).

 included in the version number.



 The main version number will get bumped when *really* big, world colliding

 changes are made. The release number is bumped when big changes are

 performed. The patch number is bumped when the changes are mere bugfixes and

 only minor feature changes. The pre-release is a counter, to identify which

 pre-release a certain release is.



 When reaching the end of a pre-release period, the version without the

 pre-release part will be released as a public release.

 changes are made. The release number is bumped when changes are performed or

 things/features are added. The patch number is bumped when the changes are

 mere bugfixes.



 It means that after release 1.2.3, we can release 2.0 if something really big

 has been made, 1.3 if not that big changes were made or 1.2.4 if mostly bugs

 were fixed. Before 1.2.4 is released, we might release a 1.2.4-pre1 release

 for the brave people to try before the actual release.

 were fixed.



 Bumping, as in increasing the number with 1, is unconditionally only

 affecting one of the numbers (except the ones to the right of it, that may be
@@ -56,12 +49,12 @@ Version Numbers and Releases 
        #define LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM 0xXXYYZZ



 Where XX, YY and ZZ are the main version, release and patch numbers in

 hexadecimal. All three numbers are always represented using two digits.  1.2

 would appear as "0x010200" while version 9.11.7 appears as "0x090b07".

 hexadecimal. All three number fields are always represented using two digits

 (eight bits each). 1.2 would appear as "0x010200" while version 9.11.7

 appears as "0x090b07".



 This 6-digit hexadecimal number does not show pre-release number, and it is

 always a greater number in a more recent release. It makes comparisons with

 greater than and less than work.

 This 6-digit hexadecimal number is always a greater number in a more recent

 release. It makes comparisons with greater than and less than work.



 This number is also available as three separate defines:

 LIBCURL_VERSION_MAJOR, LIBCURL_VERSION_MINOR and LIBCURL_VERSION_PATCH.