Why Do I Care About Numbers?
Why the hell do I care so much about how a product is numbered with each release? I have no idea. It’s been a point for me to make for almost a year — not a major one, but something I’ve brought up from time to time.
I suppose it all roots in the geekiness of me, and the need to make sure things are on their way to "completion" or "filling out". It’s not like it’s important, but I want to cement it here in blogging history, for I’ve found the standard way in which product releases are numbered. Anyone I work with will tell you, I’m a loser and if I mention numbering one more time, they will jump across their desk and kill me.
I feel the need to remind that I haven’t brought this up all that much — but I feel my numbering legacy will go on in company history for years to come. But, I’m completely delusional, and a product management geekus.
Major Versions
All major versions are the first number you see in the numbering schema. For the remainder of this post, I’m going to use "4.1.2.20060118a" as an example. The "4" is the major product version number.
Minor Versions
Each minor version released is the next number in the sequence. In our example, the "1" is what we’re discussing.
Maintenance
Every time a patch is released (every 1 month, or in Microsoft’s case, usually as they are required), this number is incremented. In our example, the "2" is what this refers to.
Build Number
The build number is simply the date of which the build that gets released to production was created. In our example, this is "20060118".
Hot Fix
I don’t like hot fixes, but they are a reality when working to deliver product. This is the letter "a", which sits after the build number. Each hot fix made just goes through the alphabet accordingly.
Roll-Ups
Everytime a new major release is made, all hot fixes, maintenance, and minor releases are rolled up into it. So, when "4" swaps to "5", there is no reference to the ".1.2" or the "a" after the build number. Everything starts fresh.
Same rule applies for minor releases and maintenance releases.
So, there. While some folks can’t stand to talk about this stuff, it’s something that gets me excited. I can’t explain why, save for the fact that I am in fact, a freak.
Enjoy the rest of the sunny, chilly day, Torontonians…
