_(this post was originally released on the [Greenkeeper Blog](https://blog.greenkeeper.io))_ Why does software have version numbers? Version numbers come in many shapes and forms, but they all have one thing in common: they signify that one release of a piece of software is different from another release of the same software. So one of the reasons software has version numbers is to show _progress_, e.g version 2.0.0 comes after version 1.0.0.
