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Q: Helix version numbers


johnbeamon
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Speaking as an IT professional who uses version control and release management all the time,

 

what's the deal with Line 6 skipping minor version numbers?

 

3.0, 3.01 (a bugfix that should have been "3.0.1", but allowable), then 3.10. There are Line 6 Ambassador/Artists posting new reviews today of "3.1", and there are users making super-premature joke inquiries about "3.2". Technically and in truth, by any web page or File Explorer that sorts according to cardinal numbering, 3.1 through 3.9 were all skipped and 3.2 would sort as older than 3.10.

 

There's a small part of me that wants to bug about this because I'm obsessive and prescriptive by nature. But there's a larger part of me that begs the question why people think 2 comes after 10, and why one software team doesn't respect the (major version).(minor version).(patch release) format used by literally every other software team on Earth. 3.10 and 3.01 are bad form, and people asking about 3.2 illustrates that bad form feeds bad habits. This is not me being nit-picky. Some new user later this year will sort through the Downloads page and choose 3.10 over 3.2, thinking it's "newest", and will complain on the support boards for not having any of the new features. And it will not be that newbie's fault. This .xx stuff needs to go; 3.x.y is the way.

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I've seen countless things complained about around here over the years...

 

Why didn't the update have this?!?!?!?!

Why didn't it they fix that?!?!?!?!

How come nobody at Line 6 cares about my personal wish list?!?!?!?!

 

But I honestly never thought I'd see the day when whining about the updates' numerical designations would become a thing... who cares if they call the next one the "Fred" update?

 

With such "critical" things rattling around in your head, how do you find time to play? ;)

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Worked and working with software companies for 3 decades now. I can say not everyone it's adopting the semantic versioning. Decimal versioning is a bit vintage I agree, but isnt wrong (ask Microsoft...).

 

 

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Given that Line 6 presents the sort order of their updates on their download listings I don't think there's much of a risk in their numbering system causing problems.  Especially since they also post the release date along with it.  Unless, of course, some end user sorts it by month then they'll figure the February release came out before the January release.

Yeah, I also worked for several decades as a software engineer with a couple of different manufacturers of commercial software products, and it's grown to be the general convention (at some point after Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, and Windows 3.11), but given Line 6 is a hardware vendor and not a software vendor I'm willing to let it slide.....

I'd even say the vast majority of Windows users have no clue that Windows 8 is release number NT 6.2 and Windows 8.1 is actually NT 6.3....and it gets worse from there!!!!!

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I think the more important win, as of 3.10, is that Line6 has made major strides towards keeping the editor and firmware versions in sync. Would love to see Native's version incorporated into that process as well. No more, "why can't I see the new effects in the latest firmware" or "HX Edit won't connect" due to version inconsistency questions.

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