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[Marcus Tomlinson <marcus.tomlinson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fix released into lp:unity-scopes-api at revision 343

** Changed in: unity-scopes-api (Ubuntu)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Michi Henning (michihenning)

** Changed in: unity-scopes-api (Ubuntu)
       Status: In Progress => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1320026

Title:
  Need better versioning

Status in unity-scopes-api package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Currently, we are changing the micro version (the z in x.y.z) when we
  make an ABI breaking change. This creates problems because there is
  nothing in the machinery to alert a client of our library when there
  is a mismatch.

  We do have a version check that kicks in when a scope is initialised,
  but that one only looks at the major version number (the x in x.y.z).

  The problem is that we have users outside our team who are using the
  library while it is in development. To let them know that the ABI has
  changed, we'd have to change the major version number, but that would
  mean that we'd be at version 35.y.z before we even have the first
  official release. And it is not an option to, during development,
  increase the major version number and then reset it back to 1.0.0 for
  the release because that runs the risk that, somewhere, and earlier
  incarnation of 1.0.0 may still be kicking around. After all, the whole
  point of version numbers is that they are monotonically increasing.

  I really would like to change the versioning such that the major
  version number is used to indicate major milestones or feature
  additions. To indicate ABI breaking changes, I want to use the minor
  version. This would allow us to use a sequence such as:

  0.1.0 Some release
  0.1.1 ABI compatible update
  0.2.0 ABI incompatible update
  ...
  0.17.3 Final version before release
  1.0.0 First release version, same as 0.17.3, just with different version number.
  1.0.1 ABI compatible patch release
  1.1.0 ABI incompatible patch release

  This will give us a way to indicate to our alpha/beta testers when the
  ABI breaks, and it provides a clean reset of the version number for
  releases.

  For the .so, instead of having

  libunity-scopes.so -> libunity-scopes.so.1
  libunity-scopes.so.1 -> libunity-scopes.so.1.0.0

  we would have

  libunity-scopes.so -> libunity-scopes.so.1.0
  libunity-scopes.so.1.0 -> libunity-scopes.so.1.0.0

  The version check in the run time would be updated to check both major
  and minor version for the compatibility test.

  None of the above is difficult. I'm not clear on what the wider
  implications are for debian packaging, testing, CI, and the like
  though.

  But I really would like to make this change. It'll be particularly
  important after we have released and do "version 2" of the library.
  How are we going to get new versions of the library to our customers
  if there is no way to indicate ABI changes other than by changing the
  major version number? By making the minor version the most significant
  one for the ABI check, we are in a better position. For example,
  assuming 1.1.3 is the final released version, for early access
  testing, we can use 1.20.0 as the starting point for version 2 and
  then count up from there (1.20.z, 1.21.z, etc.). Then, on release, the
  new version becomes 2.0.0.

  Opinions anyone? James, you are most expert with the debian
  implications. Can you help here?

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