Release numbers

I've just put a piece of demo software up online for a contract customer, and called it "version 0.9" - only partial functionality, but one of those projects which has really exciting potential and there's a need to get some form of feedback. Thank goodness for a customer who understands that a completed application doesn't just appear.

Why did I come up with release 0.9? How do release numbers work? Even this can be complicated and you can't simply "add one" at each step ... and when a new release comes along it's subjective as to whether it's a major release or a minor release. Then you have systems such as that used by Linux and Perl where an odd middle number indicates a development release, and an even middle number a production release; once you understand this it works very well - we just have to remind our trainees that they should stick with 5.8.5 and NOT leap up to 5.9.1!

Sun seem to specialise in leaping systems. Their Solaris operating system went from release 1 (a.k.a. SunOS 4.1) to release 2 (SunOS 5) and then leapt to Solaris 6 .... they're now up to Solaris 9. Java started out at Java 1.0, then moved up to Java 2 (even though the number behind has merly gone 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 ... with some subreleases) and I see that 1.5 has now become Java 5.

At lease these numbering schemes make for an interesting few minutes during training courses as we establish what version of software is in use by our trainees and what their upgrade strategy is for the future.
(written 2004-08-23 05:50:29)

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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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