Ask HN: How do you use version numbers?

1 pointfreshrap62 comments

I remember seeing a post about how browsers are going away from version numbers. They don't really matter for web apps(outside of the developers), but for desktop apps and mobile apps they are very applicable. I don't feel like this is a topic covered very well in school. Most people seem to follow the syntax X.Y.Z-A, but how they increment these values is something I've always wondered.

View on HN

I am not an experienced developer by any means (I have only one app on the Android Marketplace), but I this is the way that I do it:

-For any updates that are just minor bug fixes, then I update the Z. ie: 1.0.0 --> 1.0.1

-For any updates that add a pretty big feature of some sort, that's just more than a simple bug fix, then I update the Y., and reset the Z. ie: 1.0.3 --> 1.1.0

-For major updates that add a lot of features, and/or implement a new UI or something, then I update the X, ie: 1.1.2 --> 2.0.0.

Again, I am not sure if this is the normal way, but it's how I do it.

The A in X.Y.Z-A is mostly used for indicating how many patches has been applied to the original source code.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com