What does M1 mean in a maven repository?

Question

I've been using maven for a while, and I often review repositories before selected what version I want to use. I don't entirely understand what the extensions mean.

I know that when I see extensions like -RC1 and -RC2 that means release candidates. When I see a version without an extension, I assume that means a released version. But what does an extension of -M1 or -M2 mean?

Example:

2.8-RC1

2.8

2.8-M1 ??

Answer 1

M1 means Milestone 1, it's a release name, like beta or alpha. RC means Release Candidate.

A milestone means that the application got a huge improvement from the todo list. A release candidate is a release that can be the final release unless some major bugs are found.

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Resources :

• Wikipedia - Software release life cycle