Node Neo version strings

[jraymakers]

I'm considering a change to Node Neo version strings, starting with the next minor DuckDB version (1.4.0).

Node Neo versions consist of two parts, separated by a hyphen: the DuckDB version (e.g. 1.3.2) and the Node Neo version (e.g. alpha.24). I don't intend to change this overall structure, or the DuckDB version part.

But, I'm considering two changes to the Node Neo version part:

• Change the sequence number, which currently never decreases, to reset to 1 for each new DuckDB version (patch, minor, or major).
• Replace the alpha part with either r (meaning "release") or nothing.

So, the new version strings would either look like 1.4.0-r.1 or 1.4.0-1.
A second release for the same DuckDB version would look like: 1.4.0-r.2 or 1.4.0-2.
A first release for a new DuckDB version would look like: 1.4.1-r.1 or 1.4.1-1.

Resetting the release sequence number makes it somewhat more meaningful; it indicates how many Node Neo releases there have been for a given DuckDB version. It also prevents it from getting too large.

I'm leaning towards keeping the r, even though it's not strictly necessary, because it helps indicate the different meaning of the sequence number from the other parts of the version. It's also consistent with the current structure (with alpha) and preserves the ability to specify different version identifiers (including alpha, beta, etc.) in the future if needed.

(Note that both the current and proposed structure follows semver, specifically the "pre-release" part, even though these are not really pre-release versions. I'm mildly abusing the pre-release part to allow multiple Node Neo versions for the same DuckDB version.)

Feedback about the above proposal is welcome.

[elefeint]

As a datapoint, DuckDB JDBC driver went to Major.Minor.Patch.Release naming convention recently, to allow multiple releases of the driver for the same DuckDB release version.
https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb-java/releases

[elefeint]

but for npm, the last patch probably has to be after a dash.

[jraymakers]

Yeah, I want to adhere to the semver format, to ensure version precedence behaves as intended.

[belgattitude]

Thx. I like the idea.