Overview
Historically, SnapHire versions have had 4 digits (e.g. 8642, 8751, 8765). You may have wondered why release numbers seem to randomly increase without a clear pattern. For instance, after our release number 8742, the next release was 8750. This is easily explained by the principles of semantic versioning.
What is semantic versioning?
Semantic versioning is a widely-adopted version scheme that uses a three-part version number (Major.Minor.Patch) to represent the significance of the changes included in the version. You might have seen this format in other software products.
What is changing
After the release of SnapHire v10 (10.0.0), we are now formatting our versions by breaking down the version number into three parts. For example, a future version number could look like this:
10.75.9
Where:
- 10 is the major version number. Major versions are used for very significant changes which very rarely happen such as the replacement of a major software component or the introduction of a new development framework.
- 75 is the minor version number. Minor versions are used for new features and general bug fixes. This is the version number that should change most often.
- 9 is the patch version number. Patch versions are used for critical fixes that can't wait for the next minor version to be ready.
Conclusions
When a new SnapHire version is announced, the significance of the new version can be determined by identifying the segment of the number that has changed, when compared to the previous version.
For instance, if after version 10.74.2 the next version announced is 10.75.0 you can expect exciting things to arrive in the form of new features and improvements. However, if the new version announced was 10.74.3 you would know that the next version will contain only bug fixes, likely introduced in the previous version.
If you have any questions or feedback about how our version numbers work, please do not hesitate to get in touch.