What do the numbers in a version typically represent (i.e. v1.9.0.1)?

Question

Maybe this is a silly question, but I\'ve always assumed each number delineated by a period represented a single component of the software. If that\'s true, do they ever rep

Answer 1

It depends, but the typical representation is that of major.minor.release.build.

Where:

• major is the major release version of your software, think .NET 3.x
• minor is the minor release version of your software, think .NET x.5
• release is the release of that version, typically bugfixes will increment this
• build is a number that denotes the number of builds you have performed.

So for instance, 1.9.0.1, means that it's version 1.9 of your software, following 1.8 and 1.7, etc. where 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9 all in some way typically add small amounts of new features alongside bugfixes. Since it's x.x.0.x, it's the initial release of 1.9, and it's the first build of that version.

You can also find good information on the Wikipedia article on the subject.