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When you clone from this repository, by default you'll get the latest stable release candidate, also called the master branch. The master branch code is typically the same version of IGB that is available on the BioViz Web site. It may have some minor differences, typically bug fixes or low-risk new features. When we release a new version of IGB at BioViz, it will come comes from this master branch.

Repository branches

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• Master branch - reflects the latest released code or the latest release candidate code (see preceding section).
• Development branches - follow the conventional naming structure of igb_version branches where we are developing new features in preparation for a new major release. Development branches are named using the convention igb_[N]_[M] where N and M are integers (e.g. igb_8_2).  Only when creating a major release will the active development branches be merged with the stable (master) branch.  Once merged with the master branch, the development branch is discarded and a new development branch is created with the next major release version 

On the BioViz Web site, you'll see when we distributed compiled versions of IGB to users, we give assign them names such as 8.3.0 or 8.4.2. We are using this naming convention of \[N].\[M]\.\[P], where N, M, and P are integers, to associate released versions with branch names. The N and M numbers refer to the development branch that was merged into the master branch before a major release. The final ".P" suffix signifies low-risk, small changes that we merged from an upcoming development branch into the stable master branch and then distributed to users as a "minor" release. 

A "major" release is anything that increments either first or second version number of IGB for users (e.g., 8.3.4 to 8.4.0 is a major release). When we do a major release, we merge the development branch into the master branch, stop making changes to that development branch, and create a new one. A "minor" release is is anything that increments the final ".P" suffix version number of IGB for users (e.g., 8.3.0 to 8.3.1 is a minor release) and which requires merging a small amount of code from the development branch into the master branch.

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