Version hierarchy + Version ordering

Question

I just tried to create a version hierarchy from the Planning board (Planning Board > Version > Add), but I wonder why the order of the child versions is inversed. I did the following:

* Added Version "2.5", Parent "None"
* Added Version "2.5 M1", "Parent "2.5"
* Added Version "2.5 M2", "Parent "2.5"
* Added Version "2.6", Parent "None"
* Added Version "2.6 M1", "Parent "2.6"
* Added Version "2.6 M2", "Parent "2.6"

But on the Planning board (right column), the versions are displayed in the following order:

* 2.5
* -> 2.5 M2
* -> 2.5 M1
* 2.6
* -> 2.6 M2
* -> 2.6 M1

I would have expected:

* 2.5
* -> 2.5 M1
* -> 2.5 M2
* 2.6
* -> 2.6 M1
* -> 2.6 M2

And in the Project Administration page, the versions are listed in the following order (I realize, that this page always shows all the versions in reverse, but that's not the problem!)

* 2.6 M1
* 2.6 M2
* 2.6
* 2.5 M1
* 2.5 M2
* 2.5

I would have expected:

* 2.6 (will be released after 2.6 M2!)
* 2.6 M2
* 2.6 M1
* 2.5 (will be released after 2.5 M2!)
* 2.5 M2
* 2.5 M1

Why does JIRA/GreenHopper order it that way (especially given that GreenHopper understands child versions as sprints summing up to the parent version, see http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/GH/Setting+Up+a+Version+Hierarchy) ?

Dimitar Dimitro11 · Answer

The project administration page in JIRA treats the versions as a flat list and uses explicit ordering (there is 'sequence' attribute of the version object). You can control it using the 4 blue arrows in the table. It might be a good enhancement request to add a 'Order all versions based on release date' button.

GreenHopper uses ordering by release date - See Colin's answer for details. (Note that release date is used for ordering, not start/end dates, which are used for things like charts and estimation metrics)

Christian Lerch2 · Answer

Once I assign release dates, GreenHopper actually reorders the child versions on the planning board. JIRA's Project Administration page does not however.

Colin Goudie · Answer

Have you got release or end dates on your versions? If you do that will display them in correct order. However, it does seems strange that they haven't appeared in the order you added them if they don't have dates