The version number of curl 7 has been iterated to 7.86.0 – only more than ten versions away from the release of 7.100.0, but curl author Daniel Stenberg Do not want to use three digits in the minor version numberbecause he’s worried that it will cause unnecessary problems (see Chrome’s preparation for version 100 release), and may even cause errors in other people’s scripts used to compare versions.

Since curl usually releases a new version every 8 weeks, if the planned release cadence is followed, the minor version number of curl 7 will reach 100 in about two years.

Daniel found that next year is an important anniversary of curl, and he thought of a solution to avoid the “100” version number——Release curl 8 on the 25th anniversary of curl. In this way, it not only highlights the status of the anniversary, but also reflects the significance of upgrading the main version number, and directly avoids the “100” version number. It can be said that the demand of “needing and needing” has been realized in one step.

Therefore, on March 20, 2023, curl’s 25th birthday, Daniel will officially release curl 8.0.0. This will be curl’s first major version number upgrade in 23 years. However, as explained above, this major version number upgrade has nothing to do with feature changes, and there will be no special celebrations. All in all, this upgrade is the same as the regular one, except that the minor version number is reset and the major version number is updated.

In the regular curl release cycle, a new release is usually every 8 weeks on a Wednesday. However, March 20, 2023 is a Monday. Therefore, the release time of curl 8.0.0 will be adjusted, and the curl author plans to adjust back to the regular release time after curl 8 is released.