You use Calendar Versioning (CalVer) for code assets. You need to store an optional tag of beta as part of the version. Which part of the version should you use for the tag?

Calendar Versioning (CalVer) uses a format based on the release date, such as YYYY.MM.MICRO. The major, minor, and micro segments are typically numeric and derived from the calendar or a sequence. To denote a pre-release status, such as 'alpha' or 'beta', CalVer uses an optional component called a modifier. This modifier is appended to the core version string to provide additional context about the release's stability or purpose, without altering the chronologically significant parts of the version.

A. micro: This segment is typically a numeric, incrementing value representing a patch, build, or revision within a specific day or month. It is not intended for alphabetic tags.
B. minor: This is a core, calendar-based numeric segment of the version, such as the month (MM) or week (WW). It does not accommodate non-numeric stability tags.
C. major: This is the most significant calendar-based numeric segment, almost always the full year (YYYY) or short year (YY). It is not used for optional tags.

1. CalVer.org, "Calendar Versioning": The official specification for CalVer explicitly defines the use of modifiers. It states, "CalVer versions may also have a modifier for pre-releases, builds and other uses, e.g. v201712.0-alpha.1 or v201712.0-beta". This directly confirms that 'modifier' is the correct term for a 'beta' tag. (Source: https://calver.org/, "About" section).

2. Microsoft Learn, "Package versioning": While often referencing Semantic Versioning (SemVer), the documentation for Azure Artifacts and package management reinforces the concept of separating core version numbers from pre-release tags. It describes pre-release versions (e.g., -beta, -rc) as suffixes appended to the main Major.Minor.Patch version, which is analogous to the CalVer modifier. (Source: Microsoft Learn, Document ID: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/artifacts/concepts/package-versioning, Section: "Pre-release versions").