What is the proper way/convention/format of setting the version number when you are developing an application?

Question

Hi,
I am developing an application and I would like to save the different versions of it but I have never learnt if there is a standard/proper way of defining the version number for the applications.

I would appreciate if somebody tell me what is the standard way of doing it and the reason of why that particular format is used.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Version number is in three parts: Major, Minor, and Revision. The original version of your application is 1.0.0. Any change or adjustment, fix, etc gets a bump on the Revision. So your first bug fix makes it Version 1.0.1 Adding a feature would more probably be considered a Minor. So if you added a "Print" button to something in your application it becomes 1.1.0. If you're adding a significant number of new features all at once, it is a planned thing that you develop and test by design, rather than as a fix. That is a Major, so your application becomes 2.0.0.



To give you an example think of Windows Operating Systems. On Tuesdays MS puts out security and/or bug fixes. (Commonly referred to as Patch Tuesday) These are revisions. At some point they put out a large group of revisions at once, which MS calls Service Packs. That is a Minor. When they replace XP with Vista, that's a Major.



hope that helps

Answer 2

In most version conventions...it would go



MajorChange.Functionalitychange.bugfixes



So, if you start with v1.0.0 and:



1) You have a Major change in the application...which could include a whole new area for the application, major bug fixes where crashing occured. And the new version would be 2.0.0



or



2) You have a functionality change where you readjust the logic of a particular portion of the application...again this could include bug fixes that correct faulty logic. And the new version would be 1.1.0



or



3) You have a release where you have ONLY made corrections to issues discovered by end users or minor data/design changes. And the new version would be 1.0.1



In my experience depending on the company for which you develop an application they set the standards by which versioning changes.

Answer 3

Microsoft and the industry have also pushed this a little further with VS .NET (not sure about Sun, IBM, and the others) for enterprise development ...



They have been using Build number for a number of years in their OS Releases, but it never made sense outside the black hole of Redmond, WA !



The convention is now:



Major.Minor.Build.Revision



so IE 6 SP2 is



6.0.2900.2180



and the Build number comes from the number of days since Dec 31st 1999, while the revision number comes from the number of seconds since midnight.



But unless you're building something big and complex where you have a whole team of supporters, developers, testers, I suggest you stick with what #1 and #2 have said - Major.Minor so you would just have 2.1, then 2.2, then 2,3 or 2.3.1



HTH



Philip

Answer 4

Refer to any CMM Documents. They provide good guidelines. You can choose according to your application type and frequency of its changes and release.