Change Version format for the API

[Andre601]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

Only "problem" is readability of the version, as it has a lot of fluff that doesn't really seem to fit or make sense to have.

Describe the solution you'd like.

Given the hard-forking of Paper, it would make sense to consider changing the version structure used for the API.

As of right now is the version the same format as used by Spigot, which is <mc_version>-R0.1-SNAPSHOT, which is a lot to read for very little info or use.
Why is there R0.1? Does it have any use? Are releases really always snapshots?

I would propose to have version changes made by using the following, if technically achievable:

• <mc_version> for proper releases matching the MC version.
• <mc_version>-DEV for the latest available build of the API for the given MC version.
• <mc_version>-<commit> (or <mc_version>-<build_number>?) for releases of a specific commit (or build?), if a dev wants to pin the version to a specific one (for whatever reason).

It would make it easier to add and update versions, especially via automated tools such as dependabot and renovate-bot, as there would be less confusion on the version structure.

Describe alternatives you've considered.

There really isn't any outside of sticking with the current format, unless there is some way to use specific versions for specific targets or whatever...

Other

No response

[electronicboy]

The version string is what is deployed to the maven repo, and that's a 1:1 sorta deal, to have multiple things would require multiple deployments, and that's generally not how stuff like nexus, etc, expects versioning to be handled. Ideally, we'd have release builds, but, every mechanism I've seen of that has generally flopped.

SNAPSHOT needs to stay as that's how stuff remembers that it's a snapshot build and to deal with snapshot versioning caveats; R0.1 is an artifact of the days when bukkit used to do some form of releasing

[mbax]

Perhaps it's time to drop the R0.1 part. The last recommended builds (R1.0 and a R2.0!) were for 1.6.4 and the last beta (R0.1 and R0.2) was for 1.7.9, prior to Paper.

Could be an exciting change to make with MC 1.22, for example!