I guess this is more of a general question that I cant find the the answer to anywhere. What is the version numbering logic for open source developers managing software releases and is there any governance or guidance I can read up on. The origins of this question comes from me reviewing and researching software on countless websites that I would like to use on my Ubuntu OS. 

Through experience, I am learning some sites are much better than others explaining if a release is a stable, experimental or maintenance release but these explanations are not consistent with any version numbering logic I am familiar with.