Unity 2017新命名规则详解：各组成部分含义解析

Hey there! Let me break down Unity's post-2017 version naming system clearly for you—this stuff used to trip me up until I spent some time digging into their release workflow.

Core Structure: Year + Release Branch #

The first two parts are straightforward and designed to make version age instantly obvious:

• The first number is the release year (e.g., 2017 in all your examples means this version belongs to Unity's 2017 development cycle).
• The second number is the major release branch of that year (e.g., .2 means it's the second major feature branch of 2017; .1 would be the first, .3 the third, etc.). Each branch gets its own feature set, bug fix cadence, and sometimes long-term support (LTS) status.

The Critical Suffixes: Letters & Numbers #

After the year and branch, you'll see a letter followed by numbers (and sometimes extra tags). Each letter defines the build's stability/intent, while the numbers track iterations of that build type:

Key Build Type Letters #

• b: Beta – These are pre-release builds for testing new features. They're not production-ready, but great for early access to upcoming tools. If you see just b (like 2017.2.b), it's an early beta build; adding a number (e.g., 2017.2.b3) means it's the 3rd beta iteration of that branch.
• f: Final/Release – These are stable, production-ready builds. The numbers after f track minor bugfix updates to the final release (e.g., f2 is the 2nd final build of that version, fixing small issues from the initial f1 release).
• p: Patch – Patches are small, focused updates to fix critical bugs in a final release. They don't add new features, just stability fixes. The number after p is the patch iteration (e.g., p4 is the 4th patch build for that version).

Extra Custom Tags #

Sometimes you'll see a hyphen followed by a tag like -MRTP (as in 2017.2.0f2-MRTP). These are custom build tags for specialized use cases—MRTP here stands for Mixed Reality Toolkit Preview, meaning this build was tailored specifically for mixed reality development with pre-release toolkit features. Unity occasionally releases these targeted builds for specific platforms or partner projects.

Example Breakdowns #

Let's walk through your exact examples to tie it all together:

• 2017.2.b: 2017's second major release branch, early beta build (no iteration number means it's one of the first beta drops for this branch).
• 2017.2.0f2-MRTP: 2017's second branch, base final version (0), 2nd final build iteration, customized for Mixed Reality Toolkit Preview.
• 2017.2.1f1: 2017's second branch, 1st minor update to the base final version, 1st stable final build of that minor update.
• 2017.1.2p4: 2017's first major branch, 2nd patch release for that branch, 4th iteration of that patch build.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Jethro