Open Horizon should more completely support semantic versioning (semver). Currently oniy: "N", "N.N", and "N.N.N" semvers are supported.

Overview

I think we should fully support the current semver syntax, semver 2.0 (https://semver.org) for any resource types that are versioned in Open Horizon, and most especially, for Services. Semver is ubiquitous in our industry and users have come to expect its flexibility so they are surprised when they see the restrictions in our limited implementation.

Design

Likely this would require multiple changes in the CLIs, APIs, file formats, and internal algorithms.

User Experience

Users often use the widely known semver syntax (e.g., "1.0.1.23" or "2.1.5-beta") only to have this rejected by Open Horizon.

Command Line Interface

(none)

External Components

(none)

Affected Components

(unknown – likely many)

Security

(none)

APIs

Likely there would be corresponding API changes.

Build, Install, Packaging

(none)

Documentation Notes

This new feature would have to be documented, of course.

Test

This new feature would have to be tested, of course.