verinc - Version Increment Tool

(c) by Ralph Roth, ROSE SWE

verinc is a robust, lightweight command-line utility written in Go (v1.25++) designed to automate the management of version strings within source code. It targets specific lines containing version tokens and applies custom incrementation rules, making it ideal for build pipelines and release management.

Note

We use this tool in-house for various projects e.g. for cfg2html or getrpm (both available on github too).

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🚀 Features

• Smart Versioning: Automatically handles MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH increments.
• Token-Based Selection: Processes only lines containing specific markers like _VERSION, ProductVersion, or FileVersion.
• Overflow Logic: Implements a custom rule where reaching a PATCH of 10 resets it to 1 and increments the MINOR version.
• Multi-File Support: Update multiple source files in a single command.
• Detailed Feedback: Verbose mode provides a clear "old -> new" transition log for every change.
• Standard Library: Built using only the Go standard library for maximum portability.

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🏷️ Versioning Philosophy & Semantic Support

While verinc follows a custom overflow rule (e.g., 3.19.9 → 3.20.1), it is fundamentally designed to support the structure of Semantic Versioning (SemVer).

Semantic Versioning Reference

The tool operates on the standard MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH format:

• MAJOR: Incremented for incompatible changes. Use -j or --major.
• MINOR: Incremented for added functionality. Use -m or --minor.
• PATCH: Incremented for backwards-compatible bug fixes. This is the default behavior.

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📂 Supported File Types

verinc is language-agnostic and processes files based on line content rather than extension.

Common Use Cases:

• Source Code:
  • Pascal/Delphi/Lazarus: Updates constants or comments marked with _VERSION.
  • Go/C/C++: Updates string constants or header macros.
• Windows Resource Files (.rc): Targets FILEVERSION and PRODUCTVERSION definitions.
• Compiler & Build Metadata:
  • JSON Configs: Updates ProductVersion, Version, or FileVersion keys found in package.json or manifests.
  • Project Files: Updates XML or plain-text metadata used by compilers.

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📖 Usage

verinc [options] file1 [file2 ...]

Options

Short	Long	Description
-?, -h	--help	Show detailed help and documentation.
-V	--version	Show current version of the verinc tool.
-v	--verbose	Enable verbose output (shows specific line changes).
-g	--get	Return the first matching version string to stdout (useful for Makefiles/scripts).
-m	--minor	Bump MINOR version and reset PATCH to 1.
-j	--major	Bump MAJOR version and reset MINOR/PATCH to 0/1.

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🚦 Exit Codes

verinc returns specific exit codes for easy integration with CI/CD scripts:

• 0: Success ✅
• 1: Generic error
• 2: Invalid command line arguments
• 3: No files provided
• 4: File open/read error
• 5: No version tokens (_VERSION, etc.) found in any file
• 6: Version string parse error
• 7: File write error

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⌨️ Examples

Basic patch increment:

verinc main.pas

Minor version jump with verbose output:

verinc -m -v ~/src/project/version.go

Updating multiple files at once:

verinc -v config.json constants.pas README.md

Get first matching version string (for Makefiles/Bash scripts):

verinc --get version.go
# Output: 2.05

# Useful in Makefiles or shell scripts:
VER=$(verinc -g main.pas)
echo "Version is $VER"

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🛠 Installation

Build directly from the source using Go:

go build -o verinc verinc.go

👷 Triggering a Release

Push a version tag to start the GitHub Actions build:

• Commit all: git commit -a -s -m "..."
• Tag: git tag v2.0.5
• Push: git push origin v2.0.5

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