FVer-csharp

C# Implementation of the FVer (Friendly Version) versionining scheme.

FVer Specification (Draft)

FVer (Friendly Version) is a clean, minimal, and human-readable versioning format designed as an alternative to Semantic Versioning (SemVer). It emphasizes simplicity and only includes as much detail as necessary, while still supporting robust comparison and branching logic.

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Format

[prefix]baselineRevision[.release][-postfix]

Components

Component	Description
prefix	Optional. Defines a separate branch of versions (e.g., preview, alpha).
baseline	Required. Integer >= 0, at least 2 digits (e.g., 03, 10, 104).
revision	Required. Alphabetic string (e.g., a, b, ..., z, aa, ab, ...).
.release	Optional. Integer >= 0. Indicates hotfix or post-release updates.
-postfix	Optional. Describes pre-release or variant versions. Ordered semantically.

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Examples

• 03a — baseline 3, first revision
• 05d.1 — baseline 5, revision d, hotfix 1
• preview04c — preview branch, baseline 4, revision c
• 06f-alpha — baseline 6, revision f, postfix "alpha" (a prerelease)
• 06f-alpha.1 — an incremental update of the alpha prerelease

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Version Comparison Rules

FVer uses the following precedence rules for version comparison:

1. Prefix

   • Prefixes indicate separate version branches.
   • Versions with no prefix (mainline) are considered higher than any prefixed versions.
   • No specific ordering is defined between different prefixes. By default, they are ordered ordinally.

2. Baseline

   • Compared numerically (e.g., 03 < 10 < 104).

3. Revision

   • Compared alphabetically.
   • Alphabetic sequence is treated as base-26 (e.g., a = 0, z = 25, aa = 26).

4. Release

   • Compared numerically.
   • Only shown and considered if non-zero.

5. Postfix (Pre-release variant)

   • Compared using SemVer-style ordering:
     • Identifiers separated by dots are compared in sequence.
     • Numeric identifiers are compared numerically.
     • Alphanumeric identifiers are compared lexically.
     • Example order:

       03b-alpha < 03b-alpha.1 < 03b-alpha.beta < 03b-beta < 03b-beta.2 < 03b-beta.11 < 03b-rc.1 < 03b
       

   • Absence of a postfix (i.e., a stable version) is considered higher than any postfix.

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Notes

• Baseline must be at least two digits for formatting consistency (e.g., 03 instead of 3).
• Revisions are case-insensitive but standardized to lowercase.
• Prefix and postfix can use any identifier but must avoid characters that conflict with delimiters (., -).

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Recommended Practices

• Increment the baseline for non-revision-breaking changes or significant feature additions.
• Use revisions (a, b, etc.) for iterative changes or patches.
• Add a release number (.1, .2, etc.) only when needed (e.g., emergency fix).
• Use prefixes to maintain separate development tracks (e.g., preview, dev, alpha).
• Use postfixes to publish pre-release stages of a given version (e.g., -rc.1).

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Parser & Comparisons

Implementations should:

• Normalize to lowercase.
• Support conversion between revision strings (e.g., aa) and their integer representation.
• Use dot-segmented comparison for postfix parts following SemVer pre-release logic.
• Handle both prefixed and postfix variants correctly.

A formal grammar and code samples (C#, Python, Rust) can be provided in future versions of this spec.