Re: GCC multi-version development layout

On Mon, 20 Apr 2026 at 15:32, Jonathan Wakely <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 20 Apr 2026 at 12:39, Heime <[email protected]> wrote:
> > The implication vs reality is what creates the confusion.  If 5.1.0
> > is the release, what would be 5.1.1, 5.1.2, ... - do they exist in
> > the git development phase?
>
> There is no 5.1.2, it never exists.
>
> 5.1.1 is a snapshot from the gcc-5 branch between the 5.1.0 and 5.2.0
> releases. It's not a release.

The table at https://gcc.gnu.org/develop.html#num_scheme explains this.

Maybe you should stop looking at the timeline since it's confusing
you. The table and the lines above and below it are all that's needed.

The goal of those docs is to explain to somebody what the version
number on their GCC means. So if you have GCC 15.2.1 you can look
there to see what that means (it's some development snapshot from the
GCC 15 branch between 15.2.0 and 15.3.0). The goal of the docs is NOT
to explain arbitrary numbers you've imagined in your mind, like 5.2.2,
because no build of GCC uses that number. The docs do not need to
explain the meaning of numbers that don't exist.

If you just read the docs in isolation, and make up imaginary GCC
versions, you won't be able to explain the meaning of your imaginary
versions. But that's not the fault of the docs. GCC 5.1.2 never
existed, so it is not explained in the numbering scheme and is not
shown in the release timeline.