Software Versioning: Alpha & Above Question(s)
 

1. So when is a alpha done, how do you know when you would go to the next alpha stage. And so on with other versions such as "Beta" and RC.


2.I know a little about RC, but I know that when your just about done with your software about all bugs are gone and you release the first RC, when there are no more bugs is that when people say there in a Gold Release aka "Final" state.


disclaimer to people who always say "search", that helps no one imo.
(I googled..and Wikipedia is my answer? I'm already ahead of you. Software versioning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

In my opinion it's a matter of debugging

Alpha - software released that was only tested for bugs by the developer when you release compile the list of bugs (there will be alot of its complex)

Beta - well you've gotten rid of the majority of bugs

RC - It's feature request now, and smaller bug handlings.

So basically, pre alpha and alpha are building stages of your project, "Beta" means your done with your software with "Alot" of bugs, and RC means the same, but with less bugs?

Pre-alpha is not feature complete
Alpha is released to a closed group of tester
Beta is public
RC is feature complete and all the bugs have been fixed, it's only for last testing purposes and to look if you bug fixing didn't create any new bug.

Source

Yeah I've reread it last hour thanks :), so if I'm developing something and its not "feature" complete I'll just call it pre alpha?

What I really want to know:
I'm stuck on how to number the stages, how would i go from 2.0.0pa1 to pa2 how would I know when its time for a new stage?

Pre alpha sounds good.

It depends, some developers just use revision numbers as versions when they are in the alpha stage. Most developers go to a new "stage" after they've fixed a small amount of bugs, but it's to you to decide after how many bug fixes you will update. But if you fix a critical bug it is smart to release a update immediately after the fix.

I see, thanks for your help, I was wishing Village Idiot and Salathe post also :)

Here is the system we use for our Windows software:

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Alpha: All code that is in development. Doesn't matter if it's 1 line of code or 1 million lines of code - it's Alpha. We don't have "Alpha 1", "Alpha 2", etc, we just increment the build number each time the program is built.

Beta: The program is feature complete and ready for inital testing. At this stage we may add/remove features based on feedback. Beta releases ae generally scheduled on a 5 day release cycle.

Release Candidate: This is the finished product that is passed to the company for user acceptance. Assuming no show-stopping bugs or problems are found, the -signoff release comes shortly after.
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For those wondering about the short beta cycle, I should explain that our software is very specilized :-) In broad terms, we make Windows software work nicely together. For example, a company may want their 10 year old sales system to integrate with their shiney new CRM system, we make this happen (well, we try :-D). The reaosn for the short beta cycles is because the company we are working with will usually have / provide dedicated staff to do the testing and we are on-site with them so bugs are resolved much quicker :-)

Alan