It is a limit for ALL Windows installers. I pulled the information about version numbers from the MS documentation on version numbers for MSI installers. One reason we went with MSI is because MS allows deploying via group policy and such when you have an MSI. I am not sure that people are doing that, so we could look at using another installer technology if we want to.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2026 at 2:58 AM Hervé <[email protected]> wrote: > Is this a limit with the current Windows installer we're using? Or is it a > limit with all Windows installers? > > On Fri, 6 Feb 2026 at 01:02, Alex Earl <[email protected]> wrote: > >> For the Windows versioning, here are the restrictions to version numbers >> in the installer: >> >> "The first field is the major version and has a maximum value of 255. The >> second field is the minor version and has a maximum value of 255. The third >> field is called the build version or the update version and has a maximum >> value of 65,535." >> >> Right now, we do the following encoding because of these restrictions: >> >> // C# code from the installer >> var items = DisplayVersion.Split('.'); >> if(items.Length <= 2) { // weekly release >> int minor = 0; >> if(items.Length > 1 && int.TryParse(items[1], out minor) && minor > >> 255) { >> EncodedVersion = string.Format("{0}.255.{1}", items[0], minor * >> 10); >> } else { >> EncodedVersion = string.Format("{0}.0", DisplayVersion); >> } >> } else { >> int minor = 0; >> if(int.TryParse(items[1], out minor) && minor > 255) { >> EncodedVersion = string.Format("{0}.255.{1}", items[0], (minor * >> 10) + int.Parse(items[2])); >> } else { >> EncodedVersion = string.Format("{0}.{1}.{2}", items[0], >> items[1], int.Parse(items[2])); >> } >> } >> >> 2.554 -> 2.255.5540 >> 2.554.1 -> 2.255.5541 >> >> So, if we went to a date based version scheme, we may have to reverse the >> fields in the version and recover that somehow. >> >> e.g., >> >> 2026.04 -> 4.0.2026 >> 2026.04.1 -> 4.1.2026 >> >> The displayed version in the installer would be the correct version, it >> would just be the installer version itself that would be "weird" >> >> We don't allow upgrading using the installer, so it shouldn't really >> matter. >> On Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 1:11:45 PM UTC-7 Mark Waite wrote: >> >>> On Thu, Feb 5, 2026 at 12:38 PM Radek Antoniuk wrote: >>> >>>> 1. Where can I find the JEP for this, that explains pros, cons and >>>> motivation of (i.e. what does Jenkins want to achieve with) this change? >>> >>> >>> There isn't a JEP for it yet. This discussion topic appears only on the >>> Jenkins developer mailing list. The Jenkins developer mailing list thread >>> extends a discussion that started at the Jenkins Contributor Summit on >>> January 30, 2026 in Brussels. >>> >>> What we hope to achieve with the change: >>> >>> - It would indicate we made a significant change >>> - It gives us a major release so we can actively promote the >>> significant improvements to the Jenkins user experience that the UX SIG >>> is >>> currently developing >>> - Administrators and users have a clear indicator of their version's >>> age >>> >>> >>> >>>> 2. -1 for anything else than ISO-based dates, if any change is actually >>>> needed. >>>> >>> >>> Can you explain further exactly what you mean by "ISO-based dates"? >>> >>> The ISO-8601 standard offers many different formats for dates and a >>> specific method for numbering the weeks of the year. However, the ISO >>> standard seems to only use "-" separators between the elements, while the >>> examples Jesse Glick linked often use "." separators. >>> >>> ISO-8601 allows ordinal dates which express the number of the year >>> and the day of the year. Would you accept 2026-036 for a release delivered >>> on 5 Feb 2026? Would you accept 20260205 for a release delivered on 5 Feb >>> 2026? >>> >>> Is your intent that it should rigorously follow the ISO-8601 standard? >>> If so, which part of the standard are you referring to, and why that >>> specific part? >>> >>> Would you accept truncated representations (dropped after ISO >>> 8601:2000), such as 25-02-05, for a release delivered on 5 Feb 2026? >>> Several versioning implementations use variations of truncated >>> representations (like Ubuntu's 25.04 and 25.10 releases). >>> >>> >>>> >>>> > I don't see the difference in marketing boost between 3.x and year >>>> based version. In both cases, the users will see a significant change to >>>> the version number and will evaluate the meaning of that significant change >>>> to the version number. >>>> >>>> +100 >>>> >>>> > Moving to 3.0 would indicate to me a new major release, regardless of >>>> knowing the current version number; whereas moving to 2027.1 I could assume >>>> is just a standard incremental change from 2026.x >>>> >>>> >>> Fully agree, this change seems confusing to me, hence I'd like to learn >>>> more about the actual need/motivation. >>>> >>>> >>> Motivation: When the new user experience is ready to be enabled by >>> default, we can promote it more effectively than we've promoted other major >>> changes, such as tables to divs, YahooUI removal, Spring Security 6.x >>> upgrade, Java 11 support, Java 17, support, Java 21 support, and Java 25 >>> support. Changing the version number format signals to users that Jenkins >>> has made a major change. >>> >>> Mark Waite >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Jenkins Developers" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jenkinsci-dev/c61c4784-c167-4915-9695-90882c6dce12n%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jenkinsci-dev/c61c4784-c167-4915-9695-90882c6dce12n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Jenkins Developers" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jenkinsci-dev/CAE1M8%2B9V%2Bw-e7JN9YC9_TP8hyW0LmzP%3D3FRKrvKgwtwGtFAXSA%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jenkinsci-dev/CAE1M8%2B9V%2Bw-e7JN9YC9_TP8hyW0LmzP%3D3FRKrvKgwtwGtFAXSA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Jenkins Developers" group. 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