IGB uses semantic versioning, described in Semantic Versioning 2.0.
IGB releases have version names like 8.3.0 or 8.4.2, following the naming convention [M].[N].[P], where M, N, and P are integers.
In IGB, N is the major release number, M is the minor release number, and P is the micro or "bug fix" release number.
All new minor and bug fix releases of IGB API methods and packages are meant to be backward compatible with older release with the same major release number. New releases that increment the minor or micro numbers may add to the API, but existing methods will not change. This is to ensure that new minor or bug fix releases can run any IGB App built against earlier versions from the same major release.
New major releases of IGB may sometimes contain so-called "contract breaking" changes to the IGB API. This means that a new release that increments the major number (e.g., releasing IGB N.0.0) may include changes to the API methods that affect IGB Apps built using the previous major release.
For App Developers
To ensure that users can run your App when a new major version is released, you should re-build your App using the latest IGB platform and release it in the usual way. However, if you are unable to release an update to your App, users will always be able to run it using older versions of IGB, which they can get from our files download page at Sourceforge.