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Semver Is Wrong For Web Applications
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<h1 id="semver-is-wrong-for-web-applications">Semver Is Wrong For Web Applications</h1>
<p><a href="http://semver.org">Semantic Versioning</a> (“Semver”) is a great idea, not least
because it's more of a codification of existing practice than a totally novel
approach to versioning. However, I think it's wrong for web applications.</p>
<p>Modern web applications tend to be either totally stagnant - in which case
versioning is irrelevant - or continuously upgraded. Users have no, or very
little, choice as to which version to run: either they run the version currently
on the site, or no version at all. Without the flexibility to choose to run a
specific version, Semver's categorization of versions by what compatibility
guarantees they offer is at best misleading and at worst irrelevant and
insulting.</p>
<p>Web applications must still be <em>versioned</em>; internal users and operators must be
able to trace behavioural changes through to deployments and backwards from
there to <a href="commit-messages">code changes</a>. The continuous and incremental nature
of most web development suggests that a simple, ordered version identifier may
be more appropriate: a <a href="builds">build</a> serial number, or a version <em>date</em>, or
otherwise.</p>
<p>There are <em>parts</em> of web applications that should be semantically versioned: as
the Semver spec says, “Once you identify your public API, you communicate
changes to it with specific increments to your version number,” and this remains
true on the web: whether you choose to support multiple API versions
simultaneously, or to discard all but the latest API version, a semantic version
number can be a helpful communication tool <em>about that API</em>.</p>
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