sysversioninfo

Sysversioninfo refers to a data construct used by programming environments to represent the version information of a system, interpreter, or runtime. It typically includes numeric components for major, minor, and micro versions, along with additional fields that describe release status and a patch or serial number. The exact shape varies among languages, but the intent is to provide a stable, comparable representation of the version for conditional logic, debugging, and compatibility checks.

In Python, the closest construct is sys.version_info: a named tuple in the sys module that exposes major, minor, micro, releaselevel, and serial. It is immutable and supports lexicographic comparison with tuples of the same form, enabling statements such as if sys.version_info >= (3, 8, 0): The releaselevel field typically holds values such as 'alpha', 'beta', 'candidate', or 'final', and serial is an integer indicating the patch level. For a human-readable string, sys.version can be used, which is intended for display or logging.

Usage typically involves feature gating, conditional imports, or compatibility checks to ensure code runs correctly on different interpreter versions. It also aids in debugging and reporting the runtime environment in logs.

Other languages and platforms provide similar constructs, often named VersionInfo, Environment.Version, or runtime-specific properties. These serve the same purpose: exposing the running environment’s version to code and tooling, enabling version-aware behavior and diagnostics.