[libvirt] Switch to a time based version number rule

[Daniel P. Berrange]

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 04:01:56PM +0200, Martin Kletzander wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 01:56:54PM +0100, Daniel P. Berrange wrote:
> > Currently libvirt uses a 3 digit version number, except when it uses
> > a 4 digit version number. We have the following rules
> > 
> >  - major - no one has any clue about when we should bump this
> >  - minor - bump this when some "significant"[*] features appear
> >  - micro - bump this on each new release
> >  - extra - bump this for stable branch releases
> > 
> > [*] for a definition of "significant" that no one knows
> > 
> > Now consider our actual requirements
> > 
> > - A number that increments on each monthly release
> > - A number that can be incremented for stable branch releases
> > 
> > Ok, the micro + extra digits deal with our two actual requirements, so
> > one may ask what is the point of the major + minor digits ?
> > 
> > In 11 years of libvirt development we've only bumped the major digit
> > once, and we didn't have any real reason why we chose to the bump the
> > major digit, instead of continuing to bump the minor digit. It just
> > felt like we ought to have a 1.0 release after 7+ years.  Our decisions
> > about when to bump the minor digit have not been that much less arbitray.
> > We just look at what features are around and randomly decide if any feel
> > "big enough" to justify a minor digit bump.
> > 
> 
> Or if we had enough releases, then we bump it, pick one random feature
> and say it was because of that =)
> 
> I, for one, like the idea.  I would just start with 2.0.0 on the first
> release in 2017.  But that's just to have the full year in each such
> release.

Mostly I just want to start it now because chances are we'll forget about
it by the time Jan 2017 comes around :-) Also since it'll be a slight
change to stable release numbering (from 4 back down to 3 digits) it'd
be nice to start doing that now, rather than in the middle of a holiday
period where people are half asleep/drunk/not paying attention :-P


Regards,
Daniel
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