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According to

How should we tag version-dependent questions?

Tags such as should be simply . But lately users have been using sub-release numbers like .

Should these be retagged , or are V10 minor releases important or differentiated enough to have their own tags?

I can think of (at least) four alternatives:

  1. Use only
  2. Use only , , , etc.*
  3. Use plus however many of , etc. that apply
  4. Use whichever of , , etc. seems most appropriate

*Note in option 2 that eliminating would require a lot of work.

Related, but a different question: Using the version-10 tag

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  • 2
    I think it might be worth revisiting that stance again, especially for version 10 and up, because there are significant differences in functionality between 10.0 and 10.1 through 10.4. There weren't really that many differences between 8.0, 8.0.1 and 8.0.4, for example, when I wrote that answer. The minor release has effectively become the major release w/ Mathematica. Sort of like how Firefox took 7 years to go from 1.0 to 4.0, but only 5 to go from 4.0 to 45.0.
    – rm -rf Mod
    Commented Apr 17, 2016 at 19:45
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    I also think that the 10.x releases are far from minor releases. Call me old-fashioned, but I think that decimal version increments should be restrained to bug fixes and moderate improvements, not whole new groups of functions. I'm mostly convinced they are going to release 10.x forever, like Apple
    – Jason B.
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:13
  • @R.M. Is a change in functionality a reason for a version-specific tag? Probably the change will persist through some versions, as Sjoerd points out.
    – Michael E2
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 12:11
  • Also related: (1361)
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 13:09
  • @JasonB, I suspect that some of the new features in the +0.1 releases are things that were intended for the major version upgrade but which weren't ready on time. The alternatives would be to delay the 10.0 release until everything is ready, or hold back the new features until 11.0, neither of which are very satisfactory.
    – Simon Woods
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 16:55

2 Answers 2

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I dont think version tags should be used at all, especially not to specify the version the user just happens to use (that information can be included in the question). If the question is indeed related to a certain version it might be relevant for future versions as well and hence the tag will be obsolete pretty soon.

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  • I like this idea. The principal consideration, imo, in dealing with tags is that a tag be useful and reliable in locating questions. It must be rare that a question applies only to a certain version except for quickly-fixed bugs. I wonder if there are cases in which a version tag would be helpful that I'm not thinking of.
    – Michael E2
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 11:49
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Yes, they should be retagged and the subversion tags eliminated (option 1).

Version-10-specific questions should be linked together under one tag. Having minor release tags would mean that these questions should carry both the minor and major release tags, which uses two of the five allowed tags. Using two tags is a little wasteful, but not horrible. What's more important is that none of the questions currently tagged are also tagged . Questions specifically applying to a minor release can state that in the body.

Further, questions that at one time apply only to V10.2, later apply to V10.3, and so on. I suppose they ought to have three or more tags. Either that, or just have the general V10 tag.

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  • Just to make double sure that I understand your position: you advocate for the addition of the version-10 tag, but not the removal of the currently present subversion tag. Is that right?
    – MarcoB
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 4:45
  • @MarcoB This position is for retagging V10.0, V10.1, etc., by which I meant get rid of the subversion tags and change them to version-10. That's my preference at this point, but I'd be happy with another solution. What I care most about is developing consistent usage guidelines so that the tags are useful.
    – Michael E2
    Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 12:37

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