sebastian/version is a PHP library that helps manage version numbers for Git-hosted projects.
The library solves the problem of maintaining accurate version strings across development and release cycles. It works by accepting a release version or series name and a project path, then using Git metadata to determine the appropriate version string to return. When called, the asString() method checks whether the code resides in a Git repository and whether the release parameter follows release format (X.Y.Z) or series format (X.Y), then returns the corresponding version string—either the release as-is, the release with a -dev suffix, or Git describe output combined with the series name.
Developers should choose this library if they need to automatically derive version strings from Git state rather than hardcoding them. It suits PHP projects that use semantic versioning and want development builds to reflect their distance from tagged releases. The library is particularly useful when version information needs to be embedded in code or build artifacts and should differ between release and development branches without manual updates to source files.
The project maintains a focused scope with a single public class and method, keeping the API surface minimal and stable. Development activity shows consistent maintenance with attention to code quality and compatibility across PHP environments.
