Versioning for Operator SDK

A concise explanation of how Operator SDK versions are determined.

The Operator SDK versioning follows semantic versioning standards.

Milestones

Operator SDK milestones represent changes to the SDK spanning multiple issues, such as a design change. Milestones help SDK developers determine how close we are to new releases, either major or minor; a milestone must be completed before a new version is released. Milestones and their involved issues are determined by maintainers.

Milestone labels have the form: milestone-x.y.0, where x and y are major and minor SDK versions, respectively. This particular milestone demarcates the SDK x.y.0 release; once issues within this milestone are addressed, the release process can begin.

Major versions

Major version changes can break compatibility between the previous major versions; they are not necessarily backwards or forwards compatible. SDK change targets include but are not limited to:

• operator-sdk command and sub-commands
• Golang API
• Formats of various yaml manifest files

Minor versions

Minor version changes will not break compatibility between the previous minor versions; to do so is a bug. SDK changes will involve addition of optional features, non-breaking enhancements, and minor bug fixes identified from previous versions.

Patch versions

Patch versions changes are meant only for bug fixes, and will not break compatibility of the current minor version. A patch release will contain a collection of minor bug fixes, or individual major and security bug fixes, depending on severity.

Last modified July 17, 2020: [docs] Reorganize hugo doc site (#3382) (1248c1ca)