NETINT release package contains multiple components with their own release version numbers and semantic like compatibility numbers.
Release Version Number
The Netint Quadra release version numbers e.g. 4.7.0 consist of 3 single characters
Major.Minor.Micro
Major milestone releases will increment the 1st Major character. Periodic releases from the development trunk will increment the 2nd minor version number. And all other types of releases (e.g. hotfix) will increment the 3rd micro number.
The release version number characters range from 0 to 9, then A through to Z.
A release of greater release version number supersedes releases of lesser release version number as newer releases are based upon older releases. Users should keep updated to the latest available release version numbers to have access to the latest features and bug fixes.
Upgrading to the latest releases should be low effort due to the fact that Quadra supports backward compatibility of all its APIs. Quadra also supports executing any version of firmware with any versions of software. So upgrades can be performed with the firmware on the device first, then later upgrading to the latest software (if needed).
Users should check the release notes for indications of what has been fixed recently, in order to decide if an upgrade is required.
NETINT release packages have a release version number, but the FW and SW releases also have their own 3 character FW/SW release version number. FW and SW releases in a release package do not always share the same release version number. If FW and SW releases in a release package are of different release version numbers, the release package's release version number will be the larger release version number between FW and SW releases.
Full Version Number
Between the Firmware revision and Software applications there is also an 8 character full version number (e.g. 4706r3r4).
The firmware full version number can be seen and read from the following commands
sudo nvme list
or
./quadra_fw_info FL_BIN/*.bin
The Software full version number can be read from any libxcoder applications with the -v argument.
For Example
ni_rsrc_mon -v
It is also defined in code of the libxcoder/source/ni_defs.h file.
The first 3 characters of the full version number is the release version number.
The 4th to 6th characters are the FW API version number (see below).
The last 2 characters of the full version number are for NETINT to track release development.
Firmware API Version Number
Within the full version number (eg. 4706r3r4) of FW and SW applications the 4th to 6th characters contain the FW API version number. This is one semantic major and two minor version numbers that tracks API compatibility between the firmware on the device and the libxcoder version. The major FW API version number must match between FW and libxcoder for basic interoperability. The minor FW API version numbers should match to access full/new feature set of FW/libxcoder.
NETINT maintains backward compatibility between Firmware and libxcoder in all releases.
Libxcoder API Version Number
The libxcoder API version number is a semantic major and minor version number pair that tracks libxcoder public API compatibility with linked APIs (eg. libavcodec) and applications (eg. xcoder-util).
It can be read from code in the following file
libxcoder/source/ni_defs.h
The libxcoder API version number characters is strictly numeric. The individual major and minor portions may have more than one digit.
The major libxcoder API version number will be incremented when the API changes are backward incompatible. The minor libxcoder API version number will be incremented when new features are added that require updating application code to access.
Regardless of any libxcoder API version number changes, it is recommended to recompile all applications linked to libxcoder when updating to a new SW release version.