Updates to developer documentation.

2018-04-15 17:35:53 -04:00
parent 724ad8e115
commit 425912cd65
3 changed files with 96 additions and 46 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+gLabels Branching Model
+=======================
+
+At any time gLabels will typically have 2 active branches: a stable branch and a development branch (master).  Other branches may also exist to work on major features.
+
+
+Stable branch
+-------------
+
+A stable branch will maintained in a git branch named glabels-major.minor.
+E.g. "glabels-4.0".  Some characteristics of a stable branch are
+
+- Prerequisites are fixed for the lifetime of the branch.
+- The primary purpose of releases within a branch is to fix bugs.
+- Besides bug fixes, releases may also include new and updated translations,
+  updated documentation, and new label templates.
+- No new features will be introduced by a release within a
+  stable branch.
+
+
+Unstable/development branch
+---------------------------
+
+The current development branch is maintained in the Git master branch.
+Some characteristics of the development branch are
+
+- Prerequisites are volatile and may change over time.
+- Features and file formats may be volatile and change over time.
+- No attempt will be made to maintain backwards compatibility between commits
+- Every effort will be made to make sure the development branch will build and run without error.
+- There will be no official unstable releases based on this branch.  However, CI snapshots may be made available.
+
+Major feature branches
+----------------------
+
+Major features that could risk breaking the development branch will be developed in their own branches.
+
+
+gLabels Version numbering
+=========================
+
+* Versions are numbered major.minor.micro (e.g. 4.0.3)
+* major version indicates a major change in architecture or technology
+  - 2.x.x was based on gtk+-2
+  - 3.x.x was based on gtk+-3
+  - 4.x.x is based on qt-5
+* minor version indicates a minor change in features or design
+  - A new stable branch will be created for each new minor version
+* micro version indicates a bugfix release
+  - See above for release characteristics within a stable branch
+