So much this. SemVer isn't perfect but it's a lot better than nothing.
In addition, generally speaking folks are pretty good at sticking to it. I've analysed the number from all the updates Dependabot makes to build SemVer compliance scores for packages (https://dependabot.com/compatibility-score/). Running across all packages for the Ruby ecosystem you get:
- Patch releases generally pass CI for 97% of their users
- Minor releases generally pass CI for 95% of their users
- Major releases generally pass CI for 85% of their users
It's not a perfect system, and library maintainers should definitely keep a changelog too (https://keepachangelog.com), but it's a lot better than nothing, or any of the alternatives.
In addition, generally speaking folks are pretty good at sticking to it. I've analysed the number from all the updates Dependabot makes to build SemVer compliance scores for packages (https://dependabot.com/compatibility-score/). Running across all packages for the Ruby ecosystem you get:
- Patch releases generally pass CI for 97% of their users
- Minor releases generally pass CI for 95% of their users
- Major releases generally pass CI for 85% of their users
It's not a perfect system, and library maintainers should definitely keep a changelog too (https://keepachangelog.com), but it's a lot better than nothing, or any of the alternatives.