Understanding Software Versions

Introduction

Each piece of software that Broadcast Radio produces has a "version number" that allows you to easily determine precisely which version you are running, and you can then use this to identify if there are updates available that will bring new features and fixes to your installation.

Understanding version numbering

Software versions are usually shown as 3 or 4 digits - for example, v2.3.4 or v5.6.7.8.

Sometimes you often hear companies refer to software using just the first 2 sets of digits, especially for product announcements.

Looking at the examples above, instead of referring to the whole number, they might just be called "v1.2"  or "v4.5". This is because the 3rd and 4th numbers are often used to provide more in depth technical information to more advanced users.

Informational Version

To help clarify version numbering, software often has an "Informational Version" which can often be different from the numbering altogether. For example macOS Mohave was the Informational Version name given to release "10.14".

Prior to August 2020, and for Myriad SE, Myriad v4 and older products

For older products, and also for the Myriad SE products, we still refer to these using 3 digits, then add an "R" suffix to indicate 2nd or 3rd etc. releases - for example  "v4.5.24", which was followed by "v4.5.24 R2".

August 2020 onwards for modern BR products

In August 2020 we switched all modern Broadcast Radio products (Myriad Playout and Logging v5, SmartSign v1, Encoder v1 etc.) to using 3 digit Informational Versions such as "v5.25.1". This version number means the release number 1 of v5.25. 

If that software release needs fixes or has minor new features, then this would then be released as v5.25.2 and so on meaning the 2nd release of the v5.25 product. Normally, there will not be any major new features added in these subsequent releases.

An example of a Myriad v5 product using the 4 digit version was the first release of Myriad v5.25 ("v5.25.1"), which had the actual version number of "v5.25.20330.1240".  These version numbers are always shown on the About window which is available from the Help menu.

Understanding the 4 digit version number

For those interested in the version number itself, the first 2 parts "5" and "25" are the "Family" and "Major" parts - so it belongs to the v5 product line, and is the 25th major release.

Parts 3 and 4 are the date and GMT time that the software was built for release - "20330" was the 330th day of 2020, and "1240" means it was built at 12:40 (just after midday).

Myriad Playout v5 and related products Versioning

Myriad Playout v5 has a variety of related products that work with it, such as Remote Edit Server, AutoImporter, and of course the "SE" products such as Myriad AutoTrack SE, Myriad Advert Manager SE,  Myriad OCP SE and Myriad Network SE,

Because of the way that the SE products are developed and built, they are not able to use "Informational Version Numbers", so instead they have a version number of "v4.5" followed by the Major release number. This Major release number for a release of an SE product always matches the Major Release number of Myriad Playout.

For example, Myriad Playout "v5.25" release has a matching set of SE products that are all "v4.5.25".  

So if you ever need to know which version of, for example, Myriad AutoTrack SE you should be running, then just check the last part of the number matches - in this case "25".

As detailed above, if the SE Products ever need a bug fix release, they are known as an "R2" release - for example "v4.5.25 R2"

Whenever you update Myriad Playout, you should always update your SE products to the same version, and shouldn't ever run a newer "SE" product release until AFTER you have upgraded Myriad Playout. This is because Myriad Playout may have changes it needs to make to the database structure before the SE products can then correctly use the data.