Versioning of paid plugins
We would like to be as flexible as possible with respect to the versioning models our plugin authors employ, and we don't intend to lock you into ours. We have, however, implemented a few constraints that are designed to unify the versioning models and prevent issues that may arise from non-standard versioning schemes and licensing mechanisms.
To make it easier for you to keep your versioning consistent with our guidelines, we’d like to tell you more about how the releases of our products – and many plugins – are versioned.
There are two versioning parameters that you should be aware of:
release-version– the major version, which is closely related to the licensing modelversion– the build number that is used by the IDE and JetBrains Marketplace
Release-version vs. Version
We use the version parameter to identify the latest update of the plugin that is compatible with your IDE, which allows us to suggest installing the appropriate version. Keep in mind that SemVer (Semantic Versioning) is turned on by default for all new plugins. For more information see Semantic Versioning.
In addition to the version parameter, the changes you make for paid plugins specifically introduces the release-version parameter, which pertains to the licensing of paid plugins. It identifies what is considered to be a major release, and it is tied to the release-date. For example:
This example can be considered our initial plugin upload, so it is labeled as a major release. When we upload any minor updates, we keep the release-version untouched and only increment the version:
Release-version constraints
Your release-version must meet the following conditions:
It must be an
integer(dots or other special symbols are allowed but will be ignored).Each
release-versionmust be greater than the previous one (they can't be descending).It must contain at least 2 digits, as it will be split into 2 numbers, the second of which will contain only one digit. If, for example,
release-version=20211, the first number would be2021and the second number would be1.The first 2 digits of
release-versionmust match with theversionparameter, likerelease-version=20211andversion=2021.1.1.
Obviously, our intention is not to limit your versioning scheme to the YYYY.R format. Feel free to use the system that works best for you. Please just make sure it meets release-version conditions described above.
Even though the difference between the release-version and version parameters might initially seem a bit complex, we hope this article sheds some light on how to manage them successfully. If you still have any questions about these parameters or versioning in general, do not hesitate to contact us at marketplace@jetbrains.com.