Epoch Semantic Versioning

Source: Anthony Fu (antfu) Date: 2025-01-07 URL: https://antfu.me/posts/epoch-semver

Summary

Essay proposing Epoch Semantic Versioning — a convention that encodes an “EPOCH” number into the SemVer major version using {EPOCH * 1000 + MAJOR}.MINOR.PATCH. Addresses the psychological problem with SemVer where large major version numbers lose communicative weight, causing maintainers to delay breaking changes. The formula preserves compatibility with existing semver tooling while adding a higher-order granularity. Fu plans to adopt in UnoCSS and Slidev, dropping the perpetual v0.x.x pattern.

Implications

A versioning philosophy post that touches on a real maintainer behavior problem: version number anxiety causing change accumulation. The Epoch SemVer proposal is unconventional but grounded in practice. Watch whether it sees ecosystem adoption — if UnoCSS and Slidev both ship with it, it could gain traction as a pattern for active OSS projects.