[openssl-project] A proposal for an updated OpenSSL version scheme (v2)

[Richard Levitte]

Hi,

I've worked on a proposal for an update of the OpenSSL version scheme,
to basically align ourselves with semantic versioning, most of all in
presentation, but also in spirit, while retaining numeric
compatibility.  This proposal is currently in the form of a Google
Document:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H3HSLxHzg7Ca3WQEU-zsOd1lUP_uJieHw5Dae34KPBs/

One notable thing with semantic versioning is that it's much stricter
about the meaning of a major release regarding incompatible API/ABI
changes.  Our FAQ says that such changes *may* be part of a major
release (we don't guarantee that breaking changes won't happen), while
semantic versioning says that major releases *do* incur backward
incompatible API changes.

See https://semver.org/ for the full definition and description of
semantic versioning.

Please discuss.

I intend to finalize the document at some point and make it a PDF
stored among the policies on our web (submitted as a PR of course) and
start a vote on its final inclusion.

Cheers,
Richard

-- 
Richard Levitte         levitte at openssl.org
OpenSSL Project         http://www.openssl.org/~levitte/