Release versions

[bodiam]

Hi all,

I was trying to use Semver (https://semver.org/) for releases. We (well, I.....) haven't been always accurate with this, but the general thinking was:

MAJOR (x.0.0) -> really big changes, like a major set of API breakage, or having Java 25 as a minimum or so.
MINOR (0.x.0) -> most features. Every time we release a new version, ideally this should be the one, where we introduce new features and users can safely upgrade.
PATCH (0.0.x) -> version when you make backward compatible bug fixes

If there's 1 new feature and 6 bugfixes, is this a bugfix or a feature release? I don't know.
If there's 1 hardly used method which we remove after having communicated that for a few releases, which breaks the API, is that a MAJOR release? I don't know.

But I just saw the release of 2.5.3 (thank you for that!), which actually only has new features, so to me, this would be a MINOR release, not a bugfix release, so I think the version should have been 2.6.0, not 2.5.3 (yes, I know it's a minor release, but that's exactly why I think 2.6.0 would be the right version).

Either way, no big deal, but just wanted to share my thinking here and ideally get some feedback/thoughts on this

Cheers!
Erik

[asolntsev]

I agree, this should be 2.6.0 because it contains new features. :)

In my head, I was rather thinking that "it doesn't break anything, so it's minor". But yes, this is not semver. :)

[kingthorin]

I honestly haven't been thinking of it much for datafaker. But yeah I guess the last one should have been 2.6.0.

Shall we always open an issue before doing a release so that version number(s) are agreed upon?
(Or do you want to enable Discussions for the repo, and it can be done there?)

[bodiam]

I don't mind that much really. I think we're all aligned in theory, and if we sometimes deviate from that, no big deal for me. Let's not have a meeting about the right version number :)On 28 Oct 2025, at 08:10, Rick M ***@***.***> wrote:kingthorin left a comment (datafaker-net/datafaker#1707) I honestly haven't been thinking of it much for datafaker. But yeah I guess the last one should have been 2.6.0. Shall we always open an issue before doing a release so that version number(s) are agreed upon? (Or do you want to enable Discussions for the repo, and it can be done there?) —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[kingthorin]

Shall I update the post-release process to increment MIN instead of PATCH?

[kingthorin]

Either way we'll have to tweak things manually sometimes, but that isn't a huge deal.

[bodiam]

Yeah, maybe we should assume that the next version is not going to be a bugfix release? :) But I'm not sure really, I'm fine either way.

[kingthorin]

It's easy to adjust. I'll take care of it.

[asolntsev]

I think we can close this issue?