[Freeswitch-dev] version numbers

[Dalei Liu]

Hi,
I've been using freeswitch for a while and really like the stability
and sip compatibility.  While the code is excellent, I think the
version management could be better.

>From the git repository, the last tag is 1.0.6 dated a year and half
ago, and there was a 1.0.7 announcement but no tag anywhere.  As
described in the installation guide git repository is strongly
recommended but the problem is, it's a changing target.  And using
SHA1 is really not helpful to the users.

Is it possible to define a formal version numbering system and regular
release procedure?  For example, if we think the current master is
stable enough has the features we need and no major issue, tag it as
1.1-rc1, release it and let the users to test it under all different
conditions.  And then tag 1.1-rc2, 1.1-rc3, etc until all the the
minor issues are either fixed or moved to next minor release v1.2.  At
that moment, tag and release 1.1 and create a branch b1.1 on master.
Later, only the bug fixes go into the branch and it can be tagged as
v1.1.1, then 1.1.2, etc.  All the new features or enhancements will
sit in master and be included in the next minor release v1.2, which
will follow the same procedure.

In this way, the users will have a fixed target to test and report
issues and the developers will have a way to reproduce the same
problem.  And it will help the users and developers from outside
understand the development progress.  I believe it will also help
integrate freeswitch into mainstream distros, like debian and fedora.
My dream is one day, I could just type apt-get install freeswitch from
the fresh debian installation.

If you think it worths the time, I could contribute some time on it.

Best regards,
Dalei