How does one determine version number

[marcuslee]

This is just a curious question. This Wiki Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_versioning) describes some of the methods for assigning version numbers that companies use. I was just wondering how thinBasic's version numbers are assigned.

1.06.0.10 seems to mean the 10th revision of the 1.06 version. But, I can't figure out what the zero between them means. (1.06.0.10)

Mark :-\

[ErosOlmi]

There are not real superfixed rules.

We just increment 4th number by 1 at every release.
We increment 2nd number when there is a major release (like the next one from 6 to 7).
We will increment 1st number from 1 to 2 when we will stop Win9x compatibility going to Win2K / WinXP / Vista only support.

That's all.
Ciao
Eros

[marcuslee]

What about the third number? He's feeling lonely. What is his purpose? ::) :'(

Mark ;D

[ErosOlmi]

Maybe we will use in future. Who knows ;)

[marcuslee]

Maybe it just looks "kooler" with the extra zero in there. :D

Mark

[marcuslee]

I was just looking through the help file at the previous version numbers. The third zero has been zero since 1.1.0.0, but before that time, that slot had been used extensively. For example, the very first release (as far as the help file documents) was 1.0.1.1 in August 2005. Every release after that up until 1.1.0.0 used that third slot. Betcha you didn't know about that pattern! :P

From that pattern, you could drop the last digit when 2.0.0.0 comes around. So, the sequence after that could be:

2.0.1
2.0.2
2.0.3
...
2.1.0
2.1.1
2.1.2
...
2.9.0
2.9.1
...
3.0.0

Unless you like a longer version number. :P

Mark ;)

[ErosOlmi]

Yes. When we will start development of version 2 I'm even thinking to drop 3rd and 4th digit.

Anyhow, we need to change some procedures we have in place here. To compile the whole thinBasic project for release, we have in place an automatic process that save all the project files under a version number directory structure. This allows us to get back and recover anything can happen in source code.This process is connected to the version number we are compiling and uses all the 4 digits.

We need to change that too.
Eros

[marcuslee]

Yes. When we will start development of version 2 I'm even thinking to drop 3rd and 4th digit.


Well, if you drop both digits, you will get to 3.0 before you know it. I'm assuming you still plan on coming out with as many releases.

I don't know anything about your automatic process besides what you said in your post, but it seems to me that it would be nice to have the 3rd digit as an option. Don't display it if it is zero, but if you update just a few things in a release, you may not want to jump from 2.1 to 2.2 for example. You may want to go from 2.1 to 2.1.1 or 2.1.5.

But, whatever you decide for the future will be interesting. We all eagerly watch and see what you will do. :o

Mark :)