Understanding the Apache Component Version

At Cloudera, products are versioned with 4 digits plus a build number (for example, HDF 3.4.1.1-4). Apache components shipped within the products are versioned with the product version prefixed by the 3 digits of the Apache version (for example, in HDF 3.4.1.1-4, we have NiFi 1.9.0.3.4.1.1-4).

When we start building a release of a product, we use, as the base version, the Apache component version which exists at that time. However, it does not mean that the component version we ship is equal to the corresponding Apache version. Between the moment we start building a release, and the moment the release gets out, we add a lot of improvements, features and fixes.

This is why it is important to distinguish the Apache version from the Cloudera version. For example, the NiFi version in HDF 3.5.1.0 is NiFi 1.11.4.3.5.1.0-<build-number>. It means that when we started building the HDF 3.5.1.0 release, we used Apache NiFi 1.11.4 as the base version. However, it does not mean that the NiFi version we ship is equal to Apache NiFi 1.11.4. In fact, we added a lot of improvements on top of it. At the end, in this release, NiFi 1.11.4.3.5.1.0-<build-number> is actually including more things than what you could find in Apache NiFi 1.11.4.