There are so many open source projects. This time, I'll show you the differences between different versions and understand the meaning of alpha version, beta version and RC version

Software version cycle

α、β、λ

  It is often used to represent the three stages in the software testing process .

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α

  It's the first stage , Generally only for internal testing ;

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β

It's the second stage , Most of the imperfections in the software have been eliminated , But there may still be flaws and loopholes , Generally, it is only provided to specific user groups to test and use ;

-- λ It's the third stage , At this time, the product is quite mature , Only need to do further optimization processing in some places to go public .

Development period

-- Alpha(α)： preview , Or internal beta ; Generally not released to the outside , There will be a lot of Bug; Generally only used by testers .

-- Beta(β)： The beta , Or public beta ; New features will always be added to the version at this stage ; stay  Alpha Available after .

-- RC(Release Candidate)： Final test version ; Possible candidate for final product , If there is no problem, it can be released to the official version

Most open source software comes with two RC edition , final  RC2  It becomes the official version .

Completion period

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Stable

： Stable version ; From the preview version release, use and improvement, and the correction is completed .

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GA(General Availability)

： Officially released version ; It's used abroad GA To illustrate release Version of .

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RTM(Release to Manufacturing)

： For manufacturers release edition ;RTM Version does not necessarily mean that the creator has solved all the problems of the software ; It is still possible to update the version before it is released to the public .

another RTM My name is RTW（Release To Web）, Indicates that the official version of the software is released to Web The website is for customers to download for free .

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RTL(Retail)

： Retail Edition ; It's the real official version , Officially put on the retail market .

With Windows 7 For example ,RTM The version number is the same as that of the retail version .

Other expressions

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 OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer)

： Original equipment manufacturer ; It's for computer manufacturers to sell computers , That's the random version ;

It can only be shipped with the machine , Can't retail . Only new installations , You can't upgrade from an old operating system . The packaging is not as good as the retail edition , Usually only one side CD And instructions ( certificate of authorization ).

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RVL

： It's called the official version , Actually RVL It's not the name of the version at all . It's in Chinese / The English version of the document cracked .

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EVAL

： And what's circulating on the Internet EVAL edition , And “ Evaluation version ” similar , There is no difference between the function and the retail version

Open source brings a lot of convenience to our developers , Avoid spending a lot of time building wheels over and over again , Improved development efficiency , But we should also abide by the open source agreement , Respect the work of the Creator