1322213 - Add-on version format consistency between docs, AMO, web-ext and browser?

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Developer Documentation Graveyard :: Add-ons, defect, P5)

Description

[Leif-AMO]

:: Developer Documentation Request

      Request Type: Correction
     Gecko Version: unspecified
 Technical Contact: 

:: Details

The "Toolkit version format page" [1] is referenced from the "WebExtensions manifest.json version" [2] documentation page.

My question is whether or not the web-ext tool, AMO, and the browser, all adhere to this Toolkit version format?

In the past, with "SDK/jpm" for example, the version was forced to be in SemVer format (perhaps a result of the npm environmental preference for that specific version format), which the Toolkit format flagrantly violates, yet the AMO site and the browser both accepted.  See the "SDK package.json" [3] documentation page.

This caused annoyances at having to manually rename files to keep the Toolkit-compliant version numbers looking consistent with past releases.  Eventually I just hacked the jpm code to skip semver validation entirely, but had to re-apply the change with every install/update.

I am not a fan of SemVer, but I am also neither advocating for or against it here.  I merely want consistency between the various add-on developer tools, websites, documentation, and browser, in terms of what they expect as a version format.  If SemVer were to be required, and if it is seen as a benefit, then perhaps the version_name key (or something) could be used for the generation of an XPI file with a Toolkit compatible version in the filename, for testing without uploading for review or signature.

The Toolkit version format page [1] mentions that Google Chrome's format is more restrictive.  Perhaps it should be more clearly defined as "Chrome uses the more restrictive SemVer version format".  If the documentation is considered complete and accurate, in terms of adherence to policy and intended implementation, then it would be nice to check all the other tools that are likely to be touched during the creation of an add-on, to verify that they are all consistent, and explicitly state as much in the documentation.

[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Toolkit_version_format
[2] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/manifest.json/version
[3] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/SDK/Tools/package_json#version

Comment 1

[BMO Automation]

MDN Web Docs' bug reporting has now moved to GitHub. From now on, please file content bugs at https://github.com/mdn/sprints/issues/ and platform bugs at https://github.com/mdn/kuma/issues/.