mojombo/semver.org — Issue #49: 1.0.0-rc.1 Breaks Backwards Compatibility
Author: theory
Created: 2011-12-06 01:24:18+00:00
State: open

Overall, I welcome the changes in [this commit](https://github.com/mojombo/semver.org/commit/9906c3febaef4a5e4053eeac6c51b82d29a48a06). When we talked last summer, you mentioned adding `-` as a separator between the patch version and the pre-release string. I’m glad to see it. I also like how you managed to avoid adding a fourth digit (`x.x.x.x`) by allowing the pre-release string and the new build string to also be dot-delimited.

However, the new requirement of the `-` between the patch version and the prerelease string means that valid 1.0.0 semantic versions, such as `1.0.0b3` are no longer valid. Given that I maintain two libraries that validate semantic versions, I would prefer that backwards compatibility be maintained. As such, could the `-` be optional if there are no dots in the prerelease string? Even if the docs say that it may not be used going forward, I think that existing semvers in the wild should still be valid, even if it's only a footnote that says so.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

David