Version Number practices/conventions

[Seraph]

I was curious if anyone has any definitive guidelines that they know of for how exactly the version numbers work in VB 2008.

The common practices in setting these and maybe a link or personal knowledge on how to increment each number and the best documentation practices on this kind of information.

[Hack]

Are you asking how they work or how developers actually use them?

Typically, the two are different.

[Seraph]

Well, if there seems to be more than meets the eye to simply putting a number in a textbox, then yes, even how they work. lol

But really I'm just looking for any type of direction that tells when you should increment each of the four boxes, how big those updates have to be, and documentation practices of your updates.

I've only ever written programs, but I'm working on a project that I want to keep developing as much as I can and maybe some kind of bug/update logging might be in order for this porgram.

[Hack]

At my current clients (every company I've been to has a different way of using version numbers) we use a three digit version number.

The first number doesn't change unless there is a major app rewrite and that we want to stand apart from everything else we have done.

The second number is either a 0 or a 1 to indicate whether this release has bug fixes or not (we could be simply releasing some enhancements)

The last number indicates the number of times the app has been rolled out.

Example:

Version 1.0.8 would be the first version, no bug fixes, 8th release

How the middle digit is being used is a bit hokie if you ask me, but it seems to work for them.

[Seraph]

so wut if "1.x.9 had bug fixes then 1.x.10 didn't.
You guys would do 1.1.9 and then 1.0.10?

[GaryMazzone]

I would say 1.1.1

But that is not how Hack's current company is doing it

[Seraph]

What exactly does a rewrite consist of?
Like, My project is relatively small. (And if you want to see it, my sig has a link to the forum post here on vbforums).
If I went to add UNC conversion support to the folder paths (which is what my program is about, organizing folder paths for easy access through a form accessible through the Notification Area) would that most likely be an enhancement?
I really don't see my program being majorly changed since it is providing it's main purpose, and might just see enhancements like I described or the addition of "conveniences" like better readability of tabs, or more color options, etc.

[GaryMazzone]

A major change to my mind at least is a set of new functionality that never exsisted before.

[Seraph]

I see. Now will usually a bunch of changes be accumulated before a version number is assigned?

[Hack]

so wut if "1.x.9 had bug fixes then 1.x.10 didn't.
You guys would do 1.1.9 and then 1.0.10?

Yes...I told you it was hokie.

I see. Now will usually a bunch of changes be accumulated before a version number is assigned?

We usually wait until a number of changes have been made before rolling out a new release (note - release, not version). Otherwise, you could be rolling something out every week, or even every day.

[Seraph]

Yeah, makes sense.
Well, thanks for the help AIt just gave me an idea of how to work it.
But also showed me it's highly subjective too.

[Kasracer]

I had thought the default versioning in .Net was what most places used (Major.Minor.Revision.Build). I use it and think it's the most flexible.

[Hack]

But also showed me it's highly subjective too.

Very much so, and unless you are familiar with how the vendor, or company, uses the version number, it really doesn't mean a whole lot for a customer.

[dclamp]

And if you want to see it, my sig has a link to the forum post here on vbforums

Im a little confused as to why i agreed to an Apache Terms and Conditions notice in the setup...

[Seraph]

Apache 2.0 is a license agreement type for Open Source projects.

[dclamp]

ah that make sense. I thought your program was installing Apache for some reason.