Release Versioning

We use a 3-number version: major.default.patch

Example: 1.12.1

• major will be used for major changes, usually requiring a hard-fork
• default will be the default version increase when making a release. We will do our best to document breaking changes in the release notes.
• patch will be used only for small changes, usually fixing a regression in a default release or very minor changes.

An example of a patch release: https://github.com/iron-fish/ironfish/releases/tag/v1.0.1

This release had minor text changes to the CLI and a minor addition to one of the API payloads. It did not include any changes to the SDK or core logic of the node.

Backwards Compatibility 

We aim to give a 2-week notice on deprecations. For example, if we add new fields to an RPC payload to replace existing ones, we will keep the existing ones for a minimum of 2 weeks. We will include these deprecation notices in the release notes of the release that counts as the starting point.