Release Cycle

Introduction

Purpose

This document defines the versioning and release cycle intended for the Dissolve project.

Scope

This document describes and defines the release cycle and versioning for the Dissolve project in more detail, suitable for users, contributors, and developers.

Overview

Dissolve follows the semantic versioning model. Changes in the major release number (e.g. version 2 to version 3) indicate breaking changes that may invalidate old files. Changes to the minor release number (e.g. version 1.12 to 1.13) indicate the addition of new features to the program. Finally, changes in the patch number (e.g. version 1.4.1 to 1.4.2) indicate bug fixes and refactorings that do not fundamentally significantly change the behaviour of the program.