---
tags:
  - Software_Engineering
---
# Semantic versioning 

```
3.4.1 === major.minor.patch
```

* Major
  
  * New feature which may potentially cause breaking changes to applications dependent on the previous major version.
* Minor
  
  * New features that do not break the existing API 
* Patch
  
  * Bug fixes for the current minor version 

## Glob patterns for versioning

### Caret

Interested in any version so long as the major version remains at $n$. E.g if we are at `^4.2.1` and we upgrade, we are ok with `4.5.3` or `4.8.2`. We are not bothered about the minor or patch version. 

This is equivalent to `4.x`

### Tilde

Interested in any patch version within set major and minor parameters. For example `~1.8.3` means you don't mind any patch version so long as it is a patch for `1.8`. This is equivalent to `1.8.x`.

### No tilde or caret

Use the *exact* version specified