Why did GitVersion choose 1.0.0-alpha.4 in this case

[bitbonk]

I am using the default GitVersion setup with GitVersion.yml only containing next-version: 1.0.
Below is the GitVersion diagnositcs log of one of the latest CI build of the develop branch.

For some reason GitVersion chose 1.0.0-alpha.4 as the next version where as previous builds of the develop branch already produced greater alpha version up to 1.1.0-alpha.19.
But (presumably) after I merged release\1.0.0 ( because I made changes in CHANGELOG.md there) back to develop the version dropped down to alpha.4.

So I have three questions:

1. Why exactly did it choose 1.0.0-alpha.4 (instead of 1.1.0-alpha.20) as the next version?
2. What did I do wrong? Does the default GitVersion flow "prohibit" merging from release\* back to develop?
3. What is the best way fix this and make it continue with 1.1.0-alpha.20 on the develop branch?

Dumping commit graph: 
*   8c12bbb 50 minutes ago  (tag: 1.0.0-beta6, origin/release/1.0.0, tags/1.0.0-beta6, release/1.0.0, 8c12bbba846ffb13e040b0195e6754acef5849d3)
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 *   dc5629f 79 minutes ago  (HEAD -> develop, origin/develop, origin/dc5629f39c4724872d6fc3800d95019ee331051a, dc5629f39c4724872d6fc3800d95019ee331051a)
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NFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:22] Working directory: C:\build\_work\718\s
NFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:24] Branch from build environment: refs/heads/develop
NFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:24] Project root is: C:\build\_work\718\s\
NFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:24] DotGit directory is: C:\build\_work\718\s\.git
NFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:24] Begin: Normalizing git directory for branch 'refs/heads/develop'
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:27] One remote found (origin -> 'https://tfs.ad.kontron-ais.com/tfs/AIS/TC-Store/_git/AIS.TC.Contracts').
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:27] Skipping fetching, if GitVersion does not calculate your version as expected you might need to allow fetching or use dynamic repositories
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:29] Updating local branch develop to point at dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:33] Skipping update of 'refs/remotes/origin/dc5629f39c4724872d6fc3800d95019ee331051a' as it already matches the remote ref.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:33] Skipping update of 'refs/remotes/origin/feature/build-components' as it already matches the remote ref.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:33] Skipping update of 'refs/remotes/origin/feature/code_generation' as it already matches the remote ref.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:33] Skipping update of 'refs/remotes/origin/feature/prototype' as it already matches the remote ref.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:33] Skipping update of 'refs/remotes/origin/main' as it already matches the remote ref.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:33] Skipping update of 'refs/remotes/origin/release/1.0.0' as it already matches the remote ref.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:35] HEAD points at branch 'refs/heads/develop'.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:35] End: Normalizing git directory for branch 'refs/heads/develop' (Took: 106.16ms)
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:37] Using latest commit on specified branch
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:47] Running against branch: develop (dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0)
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:48] Begin: Calculating base versions
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:49] NextVersion in GitVersion configuration file: 1.0.0 with commit count source External Source
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:50] Fallback base version: 0.1.0 with commit count source 9a7bcc0ae2ae280d7c5062c6734f622b1c892935
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:55] Git tag '1.0.0-beta5': 1.0.0-beta.5 with commit count source a127ddc9a9c2edd333c59bc314eb9e7314986e10
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:55] Git tag '1.0.0-beta4': 1.0.0-beta.4 with commit count source e96adbb5baf993e8589075825908e5e9a101a483
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:55] Git tag '1.0.0-beta3': 1.0.0-beta.3 with commit count source 0e2d4a0eb52fea9b0962b13276c7cb1451ba8195
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:55] Git tag '1.0.0-beta1': 1.0.0-beta.1 with commit count source c42f7c37baa2a22f929bb59f668fa9fd4e731d0d
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:56] Begin: Finding merge base between 'release/1.0.0' and 'develop'.
     INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:57] Found merge base of dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0
     INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:57] Merge base of release/1.0.0' and 'develop is dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:57] End: Finding merge base between 'release/1.0.0' and 'develop'. (Took: 8.50ms)
   INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] Base version used: NextVersion in GitVersion configuration file: 1.0.0 with commit count source a127ddc9a9c2edd333c59bc314eb9e7314986e10
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] End: Calculating base versions (Took: 134.72ms)
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] 4 commits found between a127ddc Merged PR 42: Update CHANGELOG.md for 1.0.0-Beta0005 release and dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] Skipping version increment
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] 4 commits found between a127ddc Merged PR 42: Update CHANGELOG.md for 1.0.0-Beta0005 release and dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:62] Begin: Getting version tags from branch 'refs/heads/develop'.
 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:63] End: Getting version tags from branch 'refs/heads/develop'. (Took: 13.53ms)
xecuting GenerateSetVersionMessage for 'AzurePipelines'.
xecuting GenerateBuildLogOutput for 'AzurePipelines'.

 "Major": 1,
 "Minor": 0,
 "Patch": 0,
 "PreReleaseTag": "alpha.4",
 "PreReleaseTagWithDash": "-alpha.4",
 "PreReleaseLabel": "alpha",
 "PreReleaseLabelWithDash": "-alpha",
 "PreReleaseNumber": 4,
 "WeightedPreReleaseNumber": 4,
 "BuildMetaData": null,
 "BuildMetaDataPadded": "",
 "FullBuildMetaData": "Branch.develop.Sha.dc5629f39c4724872d6fc3800d95019ee331051a",
 "MajorMinorPatch": "1.0.0",
 "SemVer": "1.0.0-alpha.4",
 "LegacySemVer": "1.0.0-alpha4",
 "LegacySemVerPadded": "1.0.0-alpha0004",
 "AssemblySemVer": "1.0.0.0",
 "AssemblySemFileVer": "1.0.0.0",
 "FullSemVer": "1.0.0-alpha.4",
 "InformationalVersion": "1.0.0-alpha.4+Branch.develop.Sha.dc5629f39c4724872d6fc3800d95019ee331051a",
 "BranchName": "develop",
 "EscapedBranchName": "develop",
 "Sha": "dc5629f39c4724872d6fc3800d95019ee331051a",
 "ShortSha": "dc5629f",
 "NuGetVersionV2": "1.0.0-alpha0004",
 "NuGetVersion": "1.0.0-alpha0004",
 "NuGetPreReleaseTagV2": "alpha0004",
 "NuGetPreReleaseTag": "alpha0004",
 "VersionSourceSha": "a127ddc9a9c2edd333c59bc314eb9e7314986e10",
 "CommitsSinceVersionSource": 4,
 "CommitsSinceVersionSourcePadded": "0004",
 "UncommittedChanges": 0,
 "CommitDate": "2022-08-16"

 INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:67] Done writing 

[asbjornu]

Whenever someone is experiencing versioning issues, I always recommend removing next-version or even deleting GitVersion.yml entirely.

[bitbonk]

@asbjornu Even without a Gitversion.yml it chose 1.0.0-alpha.4. I think the reason is somehwere here:

INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] 4 commits found between a127ddc Merged PR 42: Update CHANGELOG.md for 1.0.0-Beta0005 release and dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0
INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] Skipping version increment
INFO [08/16/22 13:46:58:61] 4 commits found between a127ddc Merged PR 42: Update CHANGELOG.md for 1.0.0-Beta0005 release and dc5629f Merged PR 49: Update to TC 5.6.0

So I have created several tagged preview releases on release/1.0.0 and because I wanted the changes made in for those prereleases back in develop I merged release/1.0.0 back into develop. And now develop is 4 commits ahead of the last tag (1.0.0-beta.5). Somewhat similar to this simplified graph:

%%{init: { 'logLevel': 'debug', 'theme': 'base', 'gitGraph': {'showCommitLabel':false}} }%%
    gitGraph
       commit
       branch develop
       commit
       commit
       branch release/1.0.0
       checkout  release/1.0.0
       commit tag: "1.0.0-beta.1"
       commit
       commit tag: "1.0.0-beta.2"
       commit
       commit tag: "1.0.0-beta.3"
       commit
       commit tag: "1.0.0-beta.4"
       commit
       commit tag: "1.0.0-beta.5"
       checkout develop
       merge  release/1.0.0
       commit
       commit
       commit
       checkout release/1.0.0
       commit

Could this be the reason why it chose 1.0.0-alpha.4? If so, it would mean that I should never ever merge release/* back to develop if release/* has got prerelease version tags. This begs the question how a good workflow in a GitVersion flow should look like for prereleases.

[bitbonk]

I think I have finally understood why this happens.
Whenever there are commits on develop that are not yet on release\1.0.0 , GitVersion chooses 1.1.0-aphaX as the version number
on develop.
But as soon as release/1.0.0 is merged into develop (or the other way around), it goes back to 1.0.0-aphaY on develop.
Even though I understand why GitVersion does this, it raises the question how the default workflow is ever going to work: #3177

[bitbonk]

So the idea here is, never update develop with any commits from release/* until when the final release actually happens and release is merged into main?

Is that fair to say?

[asbjornu]

I would say that represents a normal Git Flow, yes. At least, it's what GitVersion seems to expect. 🤷🏼

[bitbonk]

Thanks!
The problem now is, that it seems that merging stuff from develop into release/* is also not intended.

[asbjornu]

Merging from develop to release/* shouldn't be a problem. Can you please create a RepositoryFixture test with version assertions so I can better understand what you are trying and which version numbers you expect along the way?

[bitbonk]

@asbjornu I have created #3191 with a test that demonstrates the problem. The test does exactly what I described in the discussion #3177. Maybe continue further discussion of the problem there? Sorry for the creation of multiple questions, I didn't know better back then.