Versioning

When developing any configuration item or component each checkpoint in that development is uniquely identified as a new 'version' of that item.

At its most simple, items proceed in a linear fashion; first version, second version, third version, and so on.



These version as commonly numbered; 1, 2, 3, and so on.



There is no requirement for items to be identified in this way, but it makes sense to indicate the basic development sequence using some form of integer notation. Some tools support branching and use a version identification scheme that includes information about the branches in the version history of the item. For example, the original branch may be identified as branch 1, with each version on that branch number sequentially; 1.1, 1.2, 1.3.



When another branch is created, and that branch is sourced from version 1.2, the numbering may proceed by identifying this as the first branch from 1.2 (that is, 1.2.1 identifies the branch) and each version along that branch is identified with an integer sequence; 1.2.1.1, 1.2.1.2, 1.2.1.3.



Although this is very workable scheme it is by no means the only method of identifying versions.