Version numbering post 1.0

[Ian Clatworthy]

Matthew D. Fuller wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 10, 2007 at 12:41:45PM +1000 I heard the voice of
> Robert Collins, and lo! it spake thus:
>> So I think:
>> X.Y.Z where:
>>  X is 0 for now, and 1 soon.
>>  Y indicates how close to the next X we think we are, from 0-99.
>>  Z indicates a bugfix only change for a given X.Y
> 
> FWIW, I hate that middle.  Deeply.  Discontinuities in digit N (aside
> from those caused by (N-1)++ of course) feel like pure Play-Doh.
> Leaving aside the futility of trying to predict the future in "how
> close to next X", it always sounds like a desperate plea for
> attention, rather than a demarcation of advancement.

OTOH, it's no worse than the Linux convention of using odd numbers to
mean something and even numbers to mean something else. As I read
Robert's proposal, x.9y.z means "beta releases" prior to x+1.0.0 which
can quite realistically exist in parallel to x.y.z. Before 1.0.0,
there's no difference though.

Ian C.