Please explain software versioning

[wasab]

Hi, 

Can anyone please explain how software version work? What is the difference between version 1.0.1 and version 1.1 for example? what qualifies a software to be updated to newer version like 2.0 from 1.0 for example? 

[Canada EH]

1.1 is newer then 1.0.1

 

who knows about qualifies

 

sometimes they do it for marketing gimmicks, maybe they want you to have something added to previous update.

[wasab]

1 minute ago, Canada EH said:

1.1 is newer then 1.0.1

 

who knows about qualifies

 

sometimes they do it for marketing gimmicks

But why not just call it 2.0 instead of something like 1.1? 

 

There must be reason for it...

[Hugs12343]

Interesting question. Generally when a piece of software goes from 1.4 to 2.0 (for example), there will have been a very big jump in upgrades, performance improvements, stability etc. Smaller jumps from 1.0 to 1.1 for example will be just little tweaks (usually) like adding a gpu that wasn't previously compatible. It won't usually be something to get really excited about. If that makes sense.

[79wjd]

2 minutes ago, wasab said:

But why not just call it 2.0 instead of something like 1.1? 

 

There must be reason for it...

It comes down entirely to the developers digression -- if it's a big enough change in their mind (or reaching a goal they set as being the defining characteristic between versions), then maybe they'll make a bigger jump. If it's a minor change then they'll probably only make a slight change to the version number.

[wasab]

11 minutes ago, Hugs12343 said:

Interesting question. Generally when a piece of software goes from 1.4 to 2.0 (for example), there will have been a very big jump in upgrades, performance improvements, stability etc. Smaller jumps from 1.0 to 1.1 for example will be just little tweaks (usually) like adding a gpu that wasn't previously compatible. It won't usually be something to get really excited about. If that makes sense.

How much a jump would some changes to an UI be? I made an android app a year ago. Now I have an updated version that I wished to upload to the playstore. 

 

I changed the UI appearance for one of the activity(activity is a window) and added a functionality that allows user to send me bug report and their phone’s hardware info. I also change the launcher icon.

 

I am confuse whether I should call it 2.0 or something else.

[wasab]

13 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

It comes down entirely to the developers digression -- if it's a big enough change in their mind (or reaching a goal they set as being the defining characteristic between versions), then maybe they'll make a bigger jump. If it's a minor change then they'll probably only make a slight change to the version number.

Okay, it is entirely up to developer correct? That is simple enough. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

Software versioning is completely arbitrary. The only reason why versioning exists is so you and your customers or whomever can keep track of what version of software they used for troubleshooting purposes. If you want to use an X.Y system, that's fine. If you want to use only a single number, that's fine too.

 

The only thing is that it should remain consistent.

[Drak3]

The conventional breakdown is something along these lines:

 

1.0.0 -> 1.0.1  Security update or bug fix

1.0.0 -> 1.1.0 Minor feature update or tweak. eg. Adjusting the increments of a slider and/or introducing a new setting

1.0.0 -> 2.0.0 Major feature update. eg. Adding 5 new features to aid general usability, 2 new features for advanced productivity, and a new utility for power users

 

However, it's not a strict rule.

 

Apple versions everything as:

10.13.0 -> 10.13.1 Minor feature update, security update, or bugfix

10.13.0 -> 10.14.0 Major feature update

 

Microsoft uses build numbers for specific versions of Windows 10. The major releases are categorized by the year and month of official release

You can have version 1709, which is just the designation for the major feature update

And OS build can be 16299.309, which will be security, bug fix, and minor feature updates

 

Canonical's first set of numbers as year and month of release

16.04.0 -16.04.1 Is the next official Ubuntu build Canonical releases.

 

 

[kirashi]

Just now, wasab said:

Okay, it is entirely up to developer correct? That is simple enough. 

It basically is up to the developer. There is a great Wiki Page on Software Versioning, however, I'm a huge supporter of using ISO 8601 for literally everything that makes sense, including software versioning. This allows a user to know exactly what version of software they're using and includes the release date in the version itself. However, users are often dumb, and believe that they're not getting their money's worth if they see a software date older than today's date, so I do understand why some developers choose not to use ISO 8601 when they should instead be educating their customers.

[Canada EH]

2 hours ago, Canada EH said:

marketing gimmicks

thats all it is

 

There is no rhyme or reason

[LogicalDrm]

Don't forget RC versions, pre-alphas, alphas, betas, demos hotfixes and other reasons to cover laziness.