| **Contains:** | New features, breaking changes | Only bug fixes | Trivial packaging fixes, no software changes | Early snapshot of the next major release |
| *release* | A snapshot of the software and related artifacts like executable binaries, which is named, tagged, documented, announced, and usually picked up by packaging systems on various platforms. |
| *version control system, VCS* | A tool used for storing and sharing and viewing the history and different lines of development of a software project, or other set of files. hledger uses Git. |
| *repository, repo* | A set of files being stored and managed by a VCS. Often published on a *repository hosting service*, such as Github. |
| *working copy, clone* | A local copy of a repository's files. Typically each developer has one or more of these, and can share changes easily with the official public repository. |
| *branch* | Some VCS's, including Git, can store multiple branching lines of development within one repository. A working copy can be quickly switched to a different branch to show its content. |
| *master, main* | The main branch in a repo, usually named `master` or `main`. Pull requests are usually relative to this. |
| *pull request, PR* | A request to merge a development branch with master, and any related discussion. On Github, these are kept alongside issues in the issue tracker. |
| *continuous integration, CI* | Automated actions that run when new code is pushed to a shared repo, such as running tests or producing binaries. On Github this is called Github Actions and action scripts are called *workflows*. |
| | **hledger concepts** |
| *package* | A releasable unit of Haskell software. hledger has several core packages usually released together: hledger-lib, hledger, hledger-ui, hledger-web. |
| *hledger version number* | A 2-4 part dotted number naming a hledger release or hledger package version: `MA.JOR[.MINOR[.FIXUP]]` or `MA.JOR.99[.PREVIEW]` where 99 means "unreleased (MAJOR+1)". See examples below. |
| *hledger version string* | A line of text describing a hledger binary, shown by `--version`. It contains program name, version number, commit hash and date, machine architecture etc. Eg: `hledger 1.24.1-g7799d526b-20211210, mac-x86_64` |
| *Complete, partial, mixed releases* | A release of all the core hledger packages (hledger-lib, hledger, hledger-ui, hledger-web) is called *complete*. A release of only some of the core packages is called *partial*. A release where some packages have different versions (because of a previous partial release) is called *mixed*. Major and preview releases are always complete, bugfix and fixup releases can be partial and/or mixed. |
| *changelog* | A CHANGES.md file listing the release history and the changes in each release. There is one for each hledger package and one for the hledger project as a whole. |
| *release notes* | The Release Notes page on the hledger website: the combined release history of the core hledger packages, showing user visible changes only. |
| | **hledger release/build types** |
| *Major release* | Major releases include new features and incompatible API changes, and normally happen at the start of each quarter's third month (3/1, 6/1, 9/1, 12/1). Example version number: `1.25` |
| *Bugfix release* | Bugfix releases include only bug fixes, without API changes. These happen when needed, to fix significant bugs in the previous major release. Example version number: `1.25.2` (*"second bugfix release for 1.25"*) |
| *Fixup release* | Fixup releases fix packaging errors, with no changes to the hledger software. These should be rare. Example version number: `1.25.0.1` or `1.25.2.1` (*"first fixup release for 1.25 / 1.25.2"*) |
| *Preview release* | A preview of the upcoming major release for testers/early adopters, and a test of the release process, published on Github. Not a formal hledger release, eg not published on Hackage, usually not packaged, no bugfix releases, no regression bounties, not shown in release notes. These typically appear in the quarter's first and second month if needed. Example version number: `1.25.99.1` (*"preview 1 of 1.26"*) |
| *CI binaries* | Temporary downloadable binaries produced by a run of the `linux`/`mac`/`windows` workflows in the hledger repo. This may happen periodically, eg weekly. Downloading requires a Github login. |
| *Dev build* | A local developer build of unreleased code. This is typically in `master` or a development/PR branch. Example version number: `1.25.99` (*"unreleased 1.26-dev"*) |
| | **hledger repos and branches** |
| *hledger repo* | The `hledger` git repository, containing the hledger software, reference manuals, and developer docs. <https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger> |
| *site repo* | The `hledger_website` git repository, containing most of the hledger website which appears at <https://hledger.org>. Usually checked out under the hledger repo as `site/`. <https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger_website> |
| *master* | The branch named `master` in the hledger repo; the main line of hledger development. Pull requests are usually relative to this. |
| *release branch* | Branches named `MA.JOR-branch` in the hledger repo, eg `1.25-branch`. Releases and release previews are always made from a release branch. |
- **Branch Management** - coordinating main and release branch, local and remote repos, CI branches
- **Version Bumping** - choosing and applying new version numbers and related things like tags, github releases, urls, ghc and dep versions, stackage resolvers, everywhere needed
