releasedversioner

Releasedversioner is a software tool and accompanying library designed to determine and retrieve the officially released version of a software project. It gathers version information from multiple sources, including version control tags, release notes, and package registries, to identify the most recent stable release. The goal is to provide a single, verifiable reference for automation, release engineering, and dependency management.

The tool supports multiple data sources such as GitHub and GitLab release pages, as well as language-specific registries like PyPI, npm, Maven Central, and Cargo. It normalizes version strings using semantic versioning rules and handles prerelease and build metadata according to configuration. Releasedversioner is designed to work in heterogeneous environments where projects publish releases across different ecosystems.

Used in CI/CD pipelines, build scripts, or as a programmatic API, Releasedversioner can list the latest release for a project, validate a given version against the latest release, or export the latest release in a machine-readable format. It offers a command-line interface and library integrations for languages such as Python and JavaScript, enabling automation without manual checks.

The architecture is modular, with components for sources (backends for each registry), parsers, a resolver to select the most appropriate release, and a formatter to output in requested schemas. Plugins and backends are intended to be extended to new registries, making the tool adaptable to evolving release ecosystems.

Limitations include reliance on external metadata, which may be incomplete or inconsistent across sources. Some registries may require authentication for access to certain releases, and discrepancies between prerelease and stable release labeling can affect results. See also: Version control, Semantic versioning, Release management, Dependency management.