The Handbook for Ruby Developers/

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Semantic Versioning

Semantic Versioning

Learn about semantic versioning in the Ruby language.

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Details of version number

We have probably already noticed that three numbers represent the Ruby version… For instance, Ruby 2.3.3, Ruby 2.5.1, etc. So, why do we need three numbers instead of just one?

The answer isSemantic Versioning (or SemVer). To summarize, consider the following.

The three numbers are the major, minor, and patch numbers. Given the version number major.minor.patch, we must increment the:

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

Additional labels for pre-release and build metadata are available as extensions to the major.minor.patch format.

For Ruby 2.3.1, the major is 2, the minor is 3, and the patch is 1. Let’s look closer into this concept because it is essential.

The software development process includes the following:

  • Fixing bugs
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