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docs: Add specification versioning guidelines#1385

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madankumarpichamuthu wants to merge 4 commits intoa2aproject:mainfrom
madankumarpichamuthu:docs/1357-add-spec-versioning-guidelines
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docs: Add specification versioning guidelines#1385
madankumarpichamuthu wants to merge 4 commits intoa2aproject:mainfrom
madankumarpichamuthu:docs/1357-add-spec-versioning-guidelines

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@madankumarpichamuthu
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Adds Section 3.6.5 to specification.md documenting when to use patch vs minor vs major releases for specification changes. This provides clear guidance for contributors on version increment rules:

  • Patch: Documentation/comments only (non-functional changes)
  • Minor: Any a2a.proto changes (functional changes)
  • Major: Breaking changes

Also adds brief cross-reference in CONTRIBUTING.md for discoverability.

Changes:

  • Added Section 3.6.5 Specification Versioning to docs/specification.md
  • Includes semantic versioning rules and decision tree
  • Added Versioning section to CONTRIBUTING.md with link to spec

This addresses the ambiguity identified by the TSC about when contributors should use different version increments.

Fixes #1357

@madankumarpichamuthu madankumarpichamuthu requested a review from a team as a code owner January 19, 2026 21:07
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Summary of Changes

Hello @madankumarpichamuthu, I'm Gemini Code Assist1! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request introduces clear and comprehensive guidelines for versioning the A2A specification, aiming to resolve ambiguity for contributors and maintainers regarding when to increment patch, minor, or major versions. It standardizes the approach to versioning based on the nature of changes, ensuring consistency and predictability in specification evolution.

Highlights

  • New Specification Versioning Guidelines: A new section (3.6.5) has been added to docs/specification.md detailing comprehensive guidelines for specification versioning, clarifying when to use patch, minor, or major releases based on Semantic Versioning principles.
  • Semantic Versioning Rules Defined: The new guidelines explicitly define criteria for Patch (non-functional changes), Minor (functional changes to a2a.proto or protocol behavior), and Major (breaking changes) releases, including a decision tree for contributors.
  • Contributor Guidance Update: A new 'Versioning' section has been added to CONTRIBUTING.md, providing a brief overview of the semantic versioning rules and a direct link to the detailed specification versioning guidelines for easy discoverability.
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@madankumarpichamuthu
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@darrelmiller i hope, this is what you had in mind for issue #1357?

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Code Review

This pull request is a great addition, providing clear versioning guidelines for the A2A specification. The new sections in CONTRIBUTING.md and specification.md will be very helpful for contributors.

My review includes a couple of suggestions to refine the logic in the new guidelines to ensure they are fully consistent and cover all change types correctly. Specifically, I've proposed updates to the decision tree in specification.md to handle non-functional changes (like comment-only changes in .proto files or build script updates) correctly as patch releases. I've also suggested a small update to the summary in CONTRIBUTING.md to align with the more detailed rules.

@madankumarpichamuthu madankumarpichamuthu force-pushed the docs/1357-add-spec-versioning-guidelines branch from 9da75c0 to fed65c1 Compare January 19, 2026 21:17
madankumarpichamuthu added a commit to madankumarpichamuthu/A2A that referenced this pull request Jan 22, 2026
Addresses review feedback to improve accuracy and eliminate logical inconsistencies in the versioning guidelines.

Changes to CONTRIBUTING.md:
- Updated patch release description to include concrete examples (tests, build scripts) beyond just documentation/comments
- Added "backward-compatible" qualifier to minor release description for clarity
- Removed redundant "(functional changes)" text

Changes to specification.md decision tree:
- Step 1: Clarified to only consider "functional modifications" to a2a.proto, excluding comment/formatting-only changes
- Step 2: Added "in other ways" to clarify this step handles non-proto protocol changes
- Step 3: Expanded non-functional change examples to include tests, build scripts, and CI configuration

These changes ensure:
- Comment-only changes to .proto files are correctly classified as patch releases
- All types of non-functional changes (tests, CI, etc.) are properly covered
- Summary in CONTRIBUTING.md aligns with detailed rules in specification.md

Fixes review feedback from gemini-code-assist on PR a2aproject#1385

Co-Authored-By: madankumarpichamuthu <madankumarpichamuthu@users.noreply.github.com>
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Code Review

This pull request introduces clear and much-needed versioning guidelines for the specification. The changes in specification.md are well-detailed, providing rules for patch, minor, and major version increments, along with a helpful decision tree for contributors. The corresponding summary and link in CONTRIBUTING.md improve discoverability. Overall, this is an excellent addition to the documentation. I've left one minor suggestion to fix a markdown formatting issue.

@darrelmiller darrelmiller added the TSC Review To be reviewed by the Technical Steering Committee label Jan 30, 2026
@github-project-automation github-project-automation bot moved this to Backlog in TSC Review Jan 30, 2026
Adds Section 3.6.5 to specification.md with detailed versioning rules for the A2A specification repository. Also adds a versioning summary to CONTRIBUTING.md with references to the detailed guidelines.

- Defines patch release criteria (non-functional changes only)
- Defines minor release criteria (backward-compatible functional changes)
- Defines major release criteria (breaking changes)
- Provides decision tree for determining version increments
- Updates CONTRIBUTING.md with versioning summary

Fixes a2aproject#1357

Co-Authored-By: madankumarpichamuthu <madankumarpichamuthu@users.noreply.github.com>
@madankumarpichamuthu madankumarpichamuthu force-pushed the docs/1357-add-spec-versioning-guidelines branch from 345dbbc to a340efe Compare February 2, 2026 21:38
madankumarpichamuthu and others added 3 commits February 3, 2026 09:21
- Added blank line before heading 3.7 to satisfy markdown linting
- Added explicit span anchor for a2aproject#365-specification-versioning to fix broken link

Co-Authored-By: madankumarpichamuthu <madankumarpichamuthu@users.noreply.github.com>
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TSC Review To be reviewed by the Technical Steering Committee

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Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

[Bug]: patch releases for the spec repo should only be for non-functional changes

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