4.4.5. Names Vs Numbers

Numbers can bet incremental in nature. And they help in many future-proof ways to use these numbers to track and organize contents.

Numbering is a good strategy indeed for versions, but it has a pitfall. The numbers can become confusing, especially if they are very similar to each other. E.g. Version 3.13.3, 3.30.3 may sound very similar to each other depending on how a person pronounces 13 and 30. Also, 31.13.13 and 31.31.13 look very similar to each other, especially when you see them in huge your log files. But practically they are very much apart from each other.

So one strategy could be to name those versions, similar to the way it is done by many other products.

4.4.5.1. Debian Releases

See for example Debian releases from https://www.debian.org/releases/.

Each version also has a name associated with it. When the system boots up, or when you read log files/system logs/updates, it is easy to see these names in logs. When you maintain 100s (if not 1000s) of such Operating instances, it would be every easy to notice which version tree each instance is.

Debian Releases

Version

Name

Debian Next

trixie

Debian 12

bookworm

Debian 11

bullseye

Debian 10

buster

Debian 9

stretch

Debian 8

jessie

Debian 7

wheezy

Debian 6.0

squeeze

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0

lenny

Debian GNU/Linux 4.0

etch

Debian GNU/Linux 3.1

sarge

Debian GNU/Linux 3.0

woody

Debian GNU/Linux 2.2

potato

Debian GNU/Linux 2.1

slink

Debian GNU/Linux 2.0

hamm

4.4.5.2. Ubuntu Releases

Ubuntu takes it few step further. It not only gives names to the numbered release, but it also numbers them based on the year and month of major release. See the very interesting pattern here, all the releases name have alphabetical names associated with them. And the major/minor versions are based on Year and Month they are released. e.g. 21.10 Impish Indri was released in 2021 October.

See the list of releases of Ubuntu from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases. (This is shown in ascending order to visibly see the alphabetical order)

Ubuntu Releases

Number

Code Name

Ubuntu 5.10

Breezy Badger

Ubuntu 6.06 (LTS)

Dapper Drake

Ubuntu 6.10

Edgy Eft

Ubuntu 7.04

Feisty Fawn

Ubuntu 7.10

Gutsy Gibbon

Ubuntu 8.04 (LTS)

Hardy Heron

Ubuntu 8.10

Intrepid Ibex

Ubuntu 9.04

Jaunty Jackalope

Ubuntu 9.10

Karmic Koala

Ubuntu 10.04 (LTS)

Lucid Lynx

Ubuntu 10.10

Maverick Meerkat

Ubuntu 11.04

Natty Narwhal

Ubuntu 11.10

Oneiric Ocelot

Ubuntu 12.04 (LTS)

Precise Pangolin

Ubuntu 12.10

Quantal Quetzal

Ubuntu 13.04

Raring Ringtail

Ubuntu 13.10

Saucy Salamander

Ubuntu 14.04 (LTS)

Trusty Tahr

Ubuntu 14.10

Utopic Unicorn

Ubuntu 15.04

Vivid Vervet

Ubuntu 15.10

Wily Werewolf

Ubuntu 16.04 (LTS)

Xenial Xerus

Ubuntu 16.10

Yakkety Yak

Ubuntu 17.04

Zesty Zapus

Ubuntu 17.10

Artful Aardvark

Ubuntu 18.04 (LTS)

Bionic Beaver

Ubuntu 18.10

Cosmic Cuttlefish

Ubuntu 19.04

Disco Dingo

Ubuntu 19.10

Eoan Ermine

Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS)

Focal Fossa

Ubuntu 20.10

Groovy Gorilla

Ubuntu 21.04

Hirsute Hippo

Ubuntu 21.10

Impish Indri

Ubuntu 22.04

Jammy Jellyfish

Ubuntu 22.10

Kinetic Kudu

Ubuntu 23.04

Lunar Lobster

Ubuntu 23.10

Mantic Minotaur

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Noble Numbat

Ubuntu 24.10

Oracular Oriole


A similar pattern can also be seen in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history but not included in this book.