Recommendations

What I recommend is to read and re-read this chapter to make sure you fully understand everything in it and to grasp the importance of reliable versioning. Here is a short list of what you need to do:

• Use a four-part number separated by periods for your file version string.

• Increment your build number before starting each build.

• Avoid the use of dates in the build number.

• Use your build number for the label in sources you just built.

• Don't try to include product marketing versions in your file version string.

• For .NET programmers, don't link assembly versioning to file versioning.

• During your setup program, do the following:

  • Check for the OS that you are installing on.

  • Avoid copying anything to the system directory.

  • Copy all components to the same directory as the executable.

  • Avoid installing older components over newer ones.

  • Make a copy of any component you overwrite.

  • Use a self-extracting executable to update.