Even though the fine manual states that app should use “a Semantic Version”, linking to semver.org, it seems that most developers, including Athom, don’t actually use the SemVer rules that come with proper semantic versioning.
Case in point: a new version for the KaKu app with known incompatible changes that just got a patch version increase, from 4.0.13 to 4.0.14.
With proper semver versioning, app updates could become so much better. Users could choose which types of automatic updates they would prefer:
- any, including (possible) incompatible changes
- updates including new features, but only when the changes won’t lead to (possible) incompatibilities
- bugfixes only
It would also provide developers with an incentive to adopt proper semantic versioning. Right now, I don’t think most developers use a consistent versioning scheme for their apps.
