This numbering system was adopted in Softadmin® 7.33.
Components
A Softadmin® version number, such as the hypothetical "8.4.1.5," is composed of four parts:
- Product version
- Feature release
- Hotfeature release
- Hotfix release
Each number resets to 0 when the preceding number changes. For instance, the initial Softadmin® 8 version is denoted as 8.0.0.0.
Therefore, in 8.4.1.5:
- 8 is the product version.
- 4 indicates the fourth major update to version 8.
- 1 indicates the first addition of features to 8.4 outside the standard release cycle.
- 5 indicates the fifth round of bug fixes in version 8.4.1.
Feature releases typically occur every 6 to 8 weeks, but don't have a fixed schedule.
Hotfeature releases are infrequent. They add new features to an existing version in a way that minimizes the risk of introducing bugs in existing features, and therefore have to be very conservative.
Hotfixes are released as needed.
Implicit components
In a formal setting, such as the version number shown in the admin menu group:
- The hotfix number can be omitted when 0. For example, Softadmin® 8.0.1.0 is written as Softadmin® 8.0.1.
- When both hotfix and hotfeature are 0, both can be omitted. For example, Softadmin® 8.1.0.0 is written as Softadmin® 8.1.
- Feature release is never omitted, even when 0.
Breaking changes to the API
Any version, even a hotfix, is allowed to introduce breaking changes to the API, but these changes are more common in feature releases and exceptionally rare in hotfixes.
Breaking changes will always be listed as "Items requiring attention" in the release notes.
Earlier systems
Versions 7.12 to 7.32 use a similar system, but where the hotfeature number uses three digits and starts at 1. That is, 7.32.001 is the base version of 7.32 and 7.32.002 adds hotfeatures.