v0.1.1 (xxxx-xx-xx)

Summary

• Specifies LCONF-Syntax Exception of LCONF-Schema-Definition
• Clarification that LCONF-Sections MUST NOT contain any whitespace character except LCONF_SPACEs.
• Fixes missing unicode point for: LCONF_GREATER_THAN_SIGN
• Fixes wrong LCONF-Schema file extension.
• Corrects some examples.

v0.1.0 (2015-09-09)

This is the first draft of the renamed and reversioned LCONF-Data-Serialization-Format-Standard Documentation.

Summary

A short summary of the most important changes (see History below for the early beginnings):

• Changed to P-Versioning Based On Semantic Versioning. Restart with version 0.1.0.
• The LCONF-Data-Serialization-Format-Standard Documentation was completely rewritten.

• Several items are renamed:

  • Renamed LCONF to LCONF-Data-Serialization-Format.
  • Renamed Key-Value-Mapping to STRUCTURE_SINGLE_BLOCK.
  • Renamed List-Of-Tuple to STRUCTURE_TABLE which have also a slightly different syntax.
  • Renamed Key :: Value-List to Compact_STRUCTURE_LIST and Leading or ending whitespace is now stripped from each individual Compact_STRUCTURE_LIST Value.
  • Renamed Repeated-Block to two subforms STRUCTURE_NAMED_BLOCKS and STRUCTURE_UNNAMED_BLOCKS which increases LCONF-Data-Serialization-Format compatibility with other data serialization formats like yaml or json.
  • Renamed Default-Comment/Empty Lines to LCONF-Schema-Comment-Lines which got also an own indentifier.

• LCONF-Indentation is now configurable within the LCONF-Section-Start-Line minimum 2 and maximum 8 spaces per level.

• Official support for a varity of LCONF-Value-Types is added.
• STRUCTURE_LISTs can now also contain TYPE_NOTSET values.
• LCONF-Key-Name naming convention is added.
• LCONF-Comment-Lines: changed the indentation requirement from MUST to SHOULD have the indentation level of the following LCONF_NONE_BLANK_LINE.
• LCONF-Schema-Definitions are now part of the LCONF-Data-Serialization-Format

History

• In early 2014 peter1000 https://github.com/peter1000/ released a first LCONF specification and an implementation as python library.

• 2014-10-08 the last LCONF Version 7.0.0 was released by peter1000.

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P-Versioning Based On Semantic Versioning

IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE to the Semantic Versioning 2.0.0

• A pre-release version MUST NOT be added.

• Build metadata MUST comprise only ASCII alphanumerics [0-9A-Za-z] and MUST NOT contain any hyphen.

Package Versioning

1. Software and related packages using this modified Semantic Versioning MUST declare a public API. This API could be declared in the code itself or exist strictly in documentation. However it is done, it should be precise and comprehensive.

2. A normal version number MUST take the form X.Y.Z where X, Y, and Z are non-negative integers, and MUST NOT contain leading zeroes. X is the major version, Y is the minor version, and Z is the patch version. Each element MUST increase numerically. For instance: 1.9.0 -> 1.10.0 -> 1.11.0.

3. Once a versioned package has been released, the contents of that version MUST NOT be modified. Any modifications MUST be released as a new version.

4. Major version zero (0.y.z) is for initial development. Anything may change at any time. The public API should not be considered stable.

5. Version 1.0.0 defines the public API. The way in which the version number is incremented after this release is dependent on this public API and how it changes.

6. Patch version Z (x.y.Z | x > 0) MUST be incremented if only backwards compatible bug fixes are introduced. A bug fix is defined as an internal change that fixes incorrect behavior.

7. Minor version Y (x.Y.z | x > 0) MUST be incremented if new, backwards compatible functionality is introduced to the public API. It MUST be incremented if any public API functionality is marked as deprecated. It MAY be incremented if substantial new functionality or improvements are introduced within the private code. It MAY include patch level changes. Patch version MUST be reset to 0 when minor version is incremented.

8. Major version X (X.y.z | X > 0) MUST be incremented if any backwards incompatible changes are introduced to the public API. It MAY include minor and patch level changes. Patch and minor version MUST be reset to 0 when major version is incremented.

9. Build metadata MAY be denoted by appending a plus sign and a series of dot separated identifiers immediately following the patch version. Identifiers MUST comprise only ASCII alphanumerics [0-9A-Za-z] and MUST NOT contain hyphen. Identifiers MUST NOT be empty. Build metadata SHOULD be ignored when determining version precedence. Thus two versions that differ only in the build metadata, have the same precedence.
   Examples: 1.0.0+001, 1.0.0+20130313144700, 1.0.0+exp.sha.5114f85, 1.0.7+r128.g4560914.

10. What do I do if I accidentally release a backwards incompatible change as a minor version?

    As soon as you realize that you've broken the Semantic Versioning spec, fix the problem and release a new minor version that corrects the problem and restores backwards compatibility. Even under this circumstance, it is unacceptable to modify versioned releases. If it's appropriate, document the offending version and inform your users of the problem so that they are aware of the offending version.

11. How should I handle deprecating functionality?

    Deprecating existing functionality is a normal part of software development and is often required to make forward progress. When you deprecate part of your public API, you should do two things:

    1. update your documentation to let users know about the change,
    2. issue a new minor release with the deprecation in place. Before you completely remove the functionality in a new major release there should be at least one minor release that contains the deprecation so that users can smoothly transition to the new API.