OpenMBEE Architectural Versions and Robots

OpenMBEE has always been oriented around an integrated set of software applications. As such it became necessary to have a way to understand the architectural differences. This was difficult to cover strictly with traditional software version numbering given the loose coupling of integrated services and the flexible variation that can occur with different organizational approaches.

The concept for this was to use a letter of the alphabet to manage the Architectural concepts at play in a given approach.

Early days of openMBEE would use this letter as a prefix to the version number of a particular version of software to indicate its consideration in the way the software version was designed.

For example, version 1 of view editor ever would have been version A-1.0.0 to indicate that verisons compatibility with version A of OpenMBEE. Similarly, MMS would be A-1.0.0 and the MDK A-1.0.0.

For fun this version would take on the name of a futurama robot.

Over time, as particular versions of MMS became mature enough on their own and people started attaching the robot name to the MMS.

Individual software projects such as MMS, View Editor and MDK retain their own version numbers following their own development trajectories.

Given the broad level of loose coupling possible in integrated systems, the letter is just provided as an additional embellishment to indicate such considerations.

New letters are assigned based on the potential for significant new changes. They don’t necessarily indicate any loss of backwards compatibility, deprecation or obsolescence.

As in any opensource project, utility, relevance and priority is determined by those who commit to the repository and what the community determines through its collective conscious.