There are a few "unfortunately named" variables in the mdlrelease tool.

See, for example:

https://github.com/moodlehq/mdlrelease/blob/3b451ab8c9897f2a/bumpversions.php#L64-L68

Those $versionmajornew and $versionminornew (and the "current" alternatives), have NOTHING to view with major or minor releases, and having them named that way long the whole script is distracting and confusing.

They are, (see the regexp), simply... the integer and decimal parts of the version.

So this issue is about to rename all them, everywhere, to better represent what they contain.

Ciao