this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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why don't they use a friendlier naming scheme? such as 0.18.1a 0.18.1b 0.18.2 ?
software has a very standardized version numbering system actually. It's not required (eg dwarf fortress), but a lot of programmers like to use it. 0.18.1-RC.1 is actually super useful for version tracking. Friendliness is actually not the goal at all, it's to be completely unambiguous about the stages of development.
The 0 is the major version number. Usually it reaches 1 when it's reached a certain milestone or a change intentionally breaks compatibility with 0
.18 is the minor version number. This increases when a big patch comes through. Sometimes this can break compatibility, but there's no real standard to decide between major and minor versions. In general, the major and minor version numbers are the only important ones for users.
The .1 is called a point version. It's meant to indicate minor patches to the minor version. There's almost never a risk for compatibility to break, and generally it's unnecessary to update for a new point version.
RC.1 is very uncommon for users to know about. It stands for 'Release Candidate', so since it's attached to 0.18.1 that means that the version is about to be released. It also means that the version is in active development and not ready to be released yet. Every time there's a new RC, that means there was a bug that caused major issues.
You’re mostly spot on, but point updates are usually patches for security and bugs. You SHOULD take all point updates.