# Naming confusion: Which version of the core code I am building?

**URL:** <https://talk.openmrs.org/t/naming-confusion-which-version-of-the-core-code-i-am-building/2525>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [July 21, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/naming-confusion-which-version-of-the-core-code-i-am-building/2525 "2015-07-21T00:18:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ivange94](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/ivange94/32/12590_2.png) [@ivange94](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/ivange94)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/naming-confusion-which-version-of-the-core-code-i-am-building/2525/1 "2015-07-21T00:18:12Z")

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Hi All,

How do i know which version of OpenMRS i am building if i just did a **git clone [https://github.com/openmrs/openmrs-core.git](https://github.com/openmrs/openmrs-core.git)** from the terminal. Also i would like to know the difference between platform version and OpenMRS version. I get confuse when i paste problems i am having and other developers trying to help ask me which OpenMRS version where you building or which platform version. Thanks

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**Author:** ![darius](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/darius/32/8082_2.png) [@darius](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/darius)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/naming-confusion-which-version-of-the-core-code-i-am-building/2525/2 "2015-07-21T01:05:15Z")

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The version of “OpenMRS Platform” is the same as the version of the openmrs-core that you have checked out. E.g. look at the version in pom.xml in the code you have checked out.

The “OpenMRS” version would mean the version of the reference application distribution. (If you’re just checked out the openmrs-core code and ran it, you are not running the reference application.)

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**Author:** ![ivange94](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/ivange94/32/12590_2.png) [@ivange94](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/ivange94)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/naming-confusion-which-version-of-the-core-code-i-am-building/2525/3 "2015-07-21T01:37:29Z")

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Hi darius

Thanks. I now understand what the platform version is. But what is the reference application, how is it different from the code i checked out. You said the version of OpenMRS is the version of the reference application distrubution but this statement on the wiki is confusing me **The reference application is written on top of the latest released OpenMRS version**. Please can you through more light on that statement. Thanks

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**Author:** ![sunbiz](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/sunbiz/32/520_2.png) [@sunbiz](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/sunbiz)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/naming-confusion-which-version-of-the-core-code-i-am-building/2525/4 "2015-07-21T03:55:34Z")

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Like you found out, the OpenMRS reference application is built on top of the OpenMRS platform. I’ve found this page to provide the most appropriate technical description about the reference application - [https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/projects/Epic+-+Reference+Application](https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/projects/Epic+-+Reference+Application) . As you see, it is a combination of data, workflow, UI that is implemented through a set of modules.

Slightly off-topic, but might be useful for someone who has a war file and wants to know OpenMRS platform version. They should extract the war and look at META-INF/maven/org.openmrs.web/openmrs-webapp/pom.properties , which mentions the platform version.