GnuCash release numbering

[Alan Whiteman]

Thank you Eric for such a thorough explanation. Very nice.

I think my point is purely from a marketing perspective. For the 
number-inclined people such as accountants and software developers, this 
all makes perfect sense. However, for the ordinary folk the system can 
be confusing. So perhaps a sort of "cosmetic" version system may be 
employed?

2.6.18 -> "Version 26"

2.7.0 -> "Version 27"

2.7.1 -> Version 28"

...etc.

Although to be perfectly honest, "stable release" is clearly labeled on 
the website.

On 11/27/2017 07:59 PM, Eric Siegerman wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 02:14:31PM -0500, davelist at mac.com wrote:
>> Yes, 2.6.18 is newer. Each number between the periods is a
>> separate number and 18 is greater than 3.
> To expand on that:  software version numbers don't work like
> decimal fractions, even though they use "." as a separator.
> Think of "2.6.18" as a series of (multi-digit) integers, and
> compare each integer in turn until you find one that differs:
>       2 = 2
>       6 = 6
>      18 > 3    <--- Bingo!
>
> To put it another way: unlike in mathematics, "2.6.3" and
> "2.6.30" are *not* equal.  (GnuCash 2.6.30 doesn't exist -- nor,
> I imagine, will it ever exist, because the whole 2.6.x series
> will reach end-of-life long before it gets twelve more releases.)
>
> It gets weirder; I oversimplified, above.  The individual
> components of a version number are not always integers.  There
> can be other characters as well, usually letters.  Worse, what
> those letters mean depends on the project.
>
> In some projects, "3a" comes before "3".  To invent an example,
> "4.7.3a1" might be the first "alpha testing" pre-release.  Then
> "beta" releases like 4.7.3b1; then "release candidates" like
> 4.7.3rc1; and finally the *real* release, 4.7.3 itself.
>
> In other projects, it's the other way around -- something like
> "3a" comes *after* "3".
>
> GnuCash works the second way.  It had 2.6.17a and 2.6.17b as
> *very* minor post-release corrections to 2.6.17.  Typically
> one tries to avoid needing these post-release fixups, and in
> fact GnuCash 2.6.18 hasn't needed any ... but sometimes stuff
> happens...
>
> One wants the world of computers to be as logical as Mr. Spock,
> but alas, we humans seem able to make a confusing mess out of
> anything :-/
>
>> In general, do not download the 2.7.x versions as those are
>> beta releases for the next version unless you are testing those
>> with other data (i.e., don't run a 2.7 with the only copy of
>> your actual data file).
> The way GnuCash distinguishes testing prereleases is with odd vs.
> even numbers for the second component.  The 2.6.x series are
> "stable", i.e. intended for production use.  There are already
> several 2.7.x releases, but those are "unstable"; they're only
> for testing, *not* production use.  Once the 2.7.x series
> stabilizes, they'll release 2.8.0, which will be the first stable
> release of the new series.  So:
>
>      2.6.3     <--- Several years old now
>      ...
>      2.6.16
>      2.6.17
>      2.6.17a
>      2.6.17b
>      2.6.18    <--- The current stable release.  INSTALL THIS ONE.
>
>      2.7.0     \    These already exist ...
>      2.7.1     |    ... but they're for testing only.
>      2.7.2     /    DO NOT USE them for real work!
>
> ------------  <--- (2017-11-27.  Below here is in the future.)
>
>      2.6.19    <--- The next stable release in the 2.6.x series
>      2.7.3     <--- The next testing release
>      2.6.x     <--- Repeat as necessary ...
>      2.7.y     <--- ... until ...
>
>      2.8.0     <--- The first stable release of the new series
>      2.8.1     <--- And so on
>      ...
>      2.9.0     <--- First of the testing prereleases leading up to
>                     2.10.0
>
>
>    - Eric
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