W3C is pleased to receive the “Clever Semantic Versioning” submission from CleverThis, Inc.
"Semantic Versioning" is a structured versioning scheme for software, defined by https://semver.org. This scheme is widely used, in particular by software package management systems such as NPM, Cargo, or Go Packages. While other kinds of artifacts are sometimes versioned and could benefit from a well-defined versioning scheme, semantic versioning is explicitly and deliberately targeting software only.
This member submission aims to bridge that gap by extending the scope of semantic versioning to other kinds of artifacts. The rules governing the scheme are expressed in a generic way, and are instantiated for several categories of artifacts (e.g., user interfaces, datasets...).
While this submission does not relate directly to any specific W3C group or specification,
it can be a useful resource for the community using those specifications.
For example, the DCAT vocabulary provides a version property for describing the version of a dataset, which could benefit from the scheme proposed in this submission for datasets.
Likewise, OWL ontologies or SHACL shapes could benefit from the scheme proposed for schemas.
Despite the scope mismatch some working groups also aim to use semantic versioning for the specification they publish (see for example the Linked Web Storage Working Group charter). Clever semantic versioning provides a more suited solution with its generic scheme. Implementation of semantically versioned specification could also benefit from the proposed hybrid versioning scheme.
Disclaimer: Publication of a Member Submission by W3C does not imply endorsement by W3C, including the W3C Team or Members, nor does it guarantee that a Working Group will agree to take any specific action on a Submission.
The Clever Semantic Versioning scheme is proposed as a Member Submission to serve as a stable resource for the W3C community when publishing a variety of versioned digital artifacts. Ongoing maintenance is currently not anticipated.