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Software Engineering vocabulary · Release and Maintenance

Bump

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/bʌmp/verbCommon term

In software engineering, bump means: To raise a version number or update a dependency to a newer version, usually as a small change. Informally, also to raise a task's priority or remind people about a message.

In Turkish: sürümü artırmak, sürüm yükseltmek, yeniden hatırlatmak

How it is used

Very common in commit messages and PR titles: 'Bump lodash from 4.17.20 to 4.17.21' (Dependabot writes these automatically) or 'bump the version to 2.1.0'. In team chat, 'just bumping this' means reminding everyone about an unanswered message.

Example sentences

  1. Bump the version to 1.4.0 before you tag the release.

  2. Just bumping this: could someone review my PR today?

Common collocations

  • bump the version
  • bump a dependency
  • version bump
  • just bumping this
  • semantic versioningA version-numbering rule with three parts, MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH: the first number changes for breaking changes, the second for new features and the third for bug fixes.
  • dependencyA library, service or other piece of software that your code needs in order to work, so a change or failure in it can affect your project.
  • upgradeTo move to a newer, usually better version of software, a library or a tool, for example from Python 3.10 to Python 3.12.
  • releaseA version of a product that is made available to users, or the act of making it available. Also a verb: to release a new version.

More terms: Release and Maintenance

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