File extension based versioning.
We need different file name extensions that map to specific blender versions and versions that don't match the specified version should complain if you try to save the file again with the wrong version.
If you insist on saving, it should save it with a file extension that matches the version that saved it.
.blend = any version will open it but blender will inform you that it was last saved with 3.51 and not its current version 4.0
.blend3 = We'd need an update to 3.5 to recognize this extension and save files with this extension. Blender 3.4.x will refuse to open this file unless forced to.
.blend4 = Opens with Blender 4.x. Blender 3.x will refuse to open it unless force to.
Because I currently have 16 instances of blender on my system I would wish for more fine grained file name extension based versioning.
.blend353 files should only open in Blender 3.5.3
.blend352 files should only open in Blender 3.5.2
.blend4x files should open in any version after 4.0
.blend403 files should only open in Blender 4.0.3
All versions of Blender can still browse the contents of all Blend files for append/link purposes.
2 Comments
That would mean each new version would require to assign a new default program for a new file extension. No thanks.
Every blender file has the version in the header. Just look at that to figure out the correct version. Adding a file extension per version sounds absolutely awful.