Versioning of Ionic

Ionic Framework ionic-v3
1

I think the powers that be need to get a hold of their versioning numbers.
But a moment ago, Ionic was on v2.
Suddenly its on v3
Now within weeks its on v3.3

For example, the jump from 3.2.1 to 3.3 included:

  • Bug Fixes :smile:
  • Two tweaks (labeled as features)

At this rate Ionic will be on version v4 by the end of the summer.

Why does this matter?

Well as nice as it is to have numbers shooting up, its non indicative of what is actually happening to the framework. Its makes upgrading an app tricky to know which versions will improve it (bug fixes) and which will break is (major changes)

Please can people stick to the typical setup?

vX.Y.Z

X - Major change to framework. Will probably break app
Y - Significant changes, some major new features, Will require changes to code to upgrade
Z - Bug fixes, minor tweaks. You should upgrade this at all times and will not break app.

2

Well, your “typical setup” is not that typical. Some define it this way, some the other way.

That’s why one way was specified as “Semantic Versioning”:

MAJOR version when you make incompatible API changes,
MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner, and
PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.

So:

  • If there are new features: MINOR++.
  • Pure bug fix release: PATCH++.
  • If you break stuff so people have to manually change some code: MAJOR++.

And that’s how Ionic works.

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