# Dev Notes

### Version Bumping

We use a tool called `bump2version` to manage bumping versions in the project. To ensure a clean git history and avoid
conflicts, follow these steps when bumping the version:

1. **Before bumping the version**, always `git pull` to ensure you have the latest changes from the repository.
2. Ensure no other copies of the repo are being worked on or committed before running the `bump2version` tool.
3. Bump the version using the command:

```bash
bumpversion [major|minor|patch]
```

This will:

1. Update the version in the VERSION file.
1. Automatically commit the version bump.
1. Create a Git tag with the new version (e.g., vALPHA-2.0.1).

Push your changes and the tag to the remote repository after bumping the version:

```bash
git push origin master --tags
```

ersioning Guidelines

We follow a versioning structure of ALPHA-major.minor.patch. Here’s a breakdown of the versioning rules:

- **Major**: The major version is incremented for significant changes that introduce new features or incompatible API
  changes.
- **Minor**: The minor version is incremented for adding new functionality in a backwards-compatible manner.
- **Patch**: The patch version is incremented for bug fixes and minor improvements that don’t affect the existing
  functionality.

This will be managed by a CI/CD pipeline (or Gitea Actions) later down the line, but for now, follow these manual steps
carefully to ensure version consistency.