If you are using Azure DevOps, the build number is generated for you automatically based on the current date and you end up with something like 20200923.4 (meaning it was a 4th build on 23rd of September). Frankly, this is not very descriptive.

Good thing – you can override it using special logging commands. The command we are looking for is ##vso[build.updatebuildnumber] and it can be executed from your pipeline.

All is needed is to include a step with the following bash script:

  - bash: |
      echo "##vso[build.updatebuildnumber]Release $(Version)"
    name: SetReleaseBuildName

$(Version) is set during one of the previous steps. You can configure it based on your requirements or preferences.

Some additional notes:

• build will start with a default number, it will be overwritten only after execution of the specified step;
• the maximum length of a build number is 255 characters;
• it is forbidden to use following characters in build number: ‘“‘, ‘/’, ‘:’, ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘\’, ‘|’, ‘?’, ‘@’, and ‘*’.