# Release Policy

Semantic MediaWiki follows [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).

We have these types of releases:

* Patch releases (third number changes) - only include fixes - upgrading is very safe
* Minor releases (second number changes) - new features but no breaking changes
* Major releases (first number change) - include breaking changes - upgrades need attention

### Breaking changes

We only make the following changes in major releases.

* Removal of features
* Breaking changes to features, such as syntax changes or parameter name changes
* Changes that require running update.php or doing a data rebuild (starting with SMW 3.2+)

This means you can be sure none of these types of changes are included in patch releases (ie SMW 1.5.2 to 1.5.3) or minor releases (ie SMW 1.5.3 to 1.6.0).

### See also

* [Release notes](releasenotes/README.md)
* [Compatibility matrix](COMPATIBILITY.md)
* [Installation guide](INSTALL.md)