How should I version my program?

Question

I'm working on my first larger (Python) project, and I don't know what version should I release it at. It's still in alpha... I think?

This has always confused me a little, how exactly should I determine the version of my current program?

If my program is nowhere near finished, I know it's alpha, but should it be 1.0.0 alpha, 0.5 alpha, should I begin from 0.1 alpha, when will I change from alpha to beta, etc?

Also, isn't it a bit stupid to have v1.0.0, and then final version will be like 1.1.3, instead of having 1.0 and final version being like 2.3? Are there any rules in total for determining the version?

Answer 1

As mentioned in the comments by cbuckley, semver.org had a really good explanation on versioning.

Answer 2

It is not uncommon for open source projects to have 0.x version numbers leading up to a released 1.0 version later. In general, I would not label anything 1.0 unless it is a release candidate. So until then, you could label it 0.xx, the number could reflect how close you think you are to release quality.

Personally I find it most useful when projects work toward a 1.0 released version as soon as possible. At that point it should be clearly defined what part of the project is considered finished, and open for (production?) use by others.

Answer 3

Is it missing functionality, but basically still useful for certain cases? Alpha. Is it feature-complete, but perhaps buggy or unrefined? Beta.

If it works, does what it claims, and is stable, call it 1.0.

Version numbers for Alpha should be less than 1.0.0, but it is just an arbitrary number.