What does the .RELEASE ending to a file mean?
e.g.
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
<version>3.0.0.RELEASE</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
The ".RELEASE" suffix was used in older Spring releases, but was dropped in 2020. It indicates that the version is the release version of the software, rather than a pre-release version.
Per this (now-defunct) documentation, the pre-2020 naming scheme was {major}.{minor}.{micro}.{release_type}, where release_type was one of the following:
- BUILD-SNAPSHOT: A release currently in development. Such artifacts are typically produced by a nightly CI build, such as SPR-TRUNKSNAPSHOT or INT-NIGHTLY, and deployed to http://maven.springframework.org/snapshot.
- M#: A 'milestone' release. Such artifacts are usually produced manually, following the release process and are deployed to http://maven.springframework.org/milestone.
- RC#: A 'GA release candidate'. Such artifacts are produced with the exact same release process as milestones, and are also deployed to http://maven.springframework.org/milestone.
- RELEASE: A GA (Generally Available) release. Again, produced using the same release process. In this case, deployment happens (a) to http://maven.springframework.org/release and (b) to Maven Central.
The current naming scheme used for new Spring releases is MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH[-MODIFIER], with no modifier used for release versions.
MODIFIERis an optional modifier such that<COUNT>is an incremented 1-based number:
- For milestones, we will use
M<COUNT>.- For release candidates, we will use
RC<COUNT>.- For snapshots, we will use
-SNAPSHOT. Note that.BUILDthat was present in our previous scheme has been removed.- For releases, there will be no modifier.
| Release Type | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Snapshot | 5.2.0-SNAPSHOT | 5.2.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT |
| Milestone | 5.2.0-M1 | 5.2.0.M1 |
| Release Candidate | 5.2.0-RC1 | 5.2.0.RC1 |
| Release | 5.2.0 | 5.2.0.RELEASE |
