This is the type of diagram that horrified me.

It's a very very hard and time consuming task for dev to maintain hotfix for previous releases !

Yeah, easier for users, they don't have to care about breaking changes or migration guide. They just blindly update to the nearest minor.

But as the time goes on, the code for dev ends up being a complete mess of git branches and backports. Dev finally forgot some patches and the software contains a major security hole.

Dev ends by being exhausted, frustrated by its project and roasted by its users.

=> What I do : do not maintain any previous release but provide a strong migration guide and list all breaking changes !

users just have to follow updates or use another software.

I'm happy with it, my project has no debt code and more clean code.