# Planning towards a 2021-03 release

**URL:** <https://forum.graphviz.org/t/planning-towards-a-2021-03-release/554>\
**Category:** Dev\
**Created:** [February 24, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/planning-towards-a-2021-03-release/554 "2021-02-24T16:08:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![smattr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/smattr/32/85_2.png) [@smattr](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/smattr)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/planning-towards-a-2021-03-release/554/1 "2021-02-24T16:08:02Z")

</div>

I’d like to cut a new release in March. And so we confront one of the many ambiguities in semantic versioning. I believe all changes qualify for a patch release (2.46.2) except maybe the work by @graphgalaxy that makes the JSON output ordered (thanks again!). Should we be considering this a patch release or a minor version bump (2.47.0)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magjac](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/magjac/32/16_2.png) [@magjac](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/magjac)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 7:55am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/planning-towards-a-2021-03-release/554/2 "2021-03-06T07:55:57Z")

</div>

I’m not aware of any ambiguities in semver. At least not in this case. If there is new functionality added in a backwards compatible manner, it should be 2.47.0. If no new functionality has been added, it should be 2.46.2. So in this case it boils down to classifying the changed functionality as newly added or fixed. Specifically; is the JSON output ordering new functionality or is it what was previously specified, implemented or at least intended?

I see five points under **Changed** in the [CHANGELOG](https://gitlab.com/graphviz/graphviz/-/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#changed). If these are correctly classified, the new release should be 2.47.0.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![smattr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/smattr/32/85_2.png) [@smattr](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/smattr)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/planning-towards-a-2021-03-release/554/3 "2021-03-06T16:29:38Z")

</div>

I guess this is really ambiguity on our side than within semver. It’s possible someone was depending on the previous arbitrary order of nodes in the JSON, that we are now outputting ordered. Bumping to 2.47.0 sounds like the safe option.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![smattr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/smattr/32/85_2.png) [@smattr](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/smattr)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/planning-towards-a-2021-03-release/554/4 "2021-03-12T02:17:49Z")

</div>

MR is posted for this for anyone curious: [Stable Release 2.47.0 (!1835) · Merge requests · graphviz / graphviz · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/graphviz/graphviz/-/merge_requests/1835)

Expect Graphviz 2.47.0 on 2021-03-15.