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buildversioningsoftware-distribution

Software versioning - MS patterns and Practices


I am reading the build process article from MS patterns and pratices team http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee817676.aspx

They recommend using the pattern major version . minor version . build number . revision in the AssemblyInfo file.

i understand how and when to update major version and minor version and assuming i have a CI build server which can increment build numbers on successful builds. However, I dont quite understand under what circumstances one should consider incrementing revision numbers ?


Solution

  • Revision numbers are used to track builds within a given major & minor version.
    Usually you ship to the customer a given major & minor version
    (In MS-terms "Windows XP" would be the major version, "SP3" would be the minor version.)

    In order to give any hotfix to the customer within your given major & minor combination you would have to count up the revision.
    This might also be a good read on the topic