OpenROAD provides the VersionApp utility for creating numbered versions of an application. A numbered version of an application is an application that has a version number assigned to it and can no longer be modified. This is useful for managing different versions of the same application.

The VersionApp utility "freezes" your working copy of the application and assigns a version number to it. It uses the highest numbered version of each component in the application to create the numbered version of the application.

If you have not saved all of the application's components, you must specify the -p parameter (private). This parameter tells the utility how to handle private versions (that is, those components that are not saved). By default, the utility aborts when it encounters a component that is in use; the -p parameter lets you specify an alternate behavior.

If the working version of a saved component is different from the most recent numbered version, the VersionApp utility saves the working version as a numbered version and includes it in the new numbered version of the application. You can change this behavior by using the -w parameter (ignore).

For a complete description of VersionApp parameters, see Parameters for the VersionApp Utility.