Cockroach Labs has transitioned from semantic versioning to calendar versioning for their release cycle guidelines, moving from version 2.1.5 to 19.1 beta. This change addresses challenges faced under semantic versioning, such as determining significant version jumps without backward-compatible API changes. By adopting calendar versioning, they aim to minimize internal debates, establish clear user expectations regarding release quality and stability, and simplify the understanding of release timelines. Releases will now be named by season and year, with a two-digit year as the major component and release number within the year as the minor one, such as CockroachDB Spring '19. Patch releases will be indicated by a third "micro" number, omitted on the first release number for external representations. The new system is intended to streamline the process and reduce the chance of version-skipping during upgrades.