diff --git a/doc/contributing.rst b/doc/contributing.rst
index 12d085d5ef53af57dd53bbf8df7ddec2bedd52ea..ca5751c938ec8175239b11320f0140043e0e17bf 100644
--- a/doc/contributing.rst
+++ b/doc/contributing.rst
@@ -24,23 +24,6 @@ Development model
  - Coding conventions are adhered to (unless there is good reason not to).
 
 
-Releases
---------
-
-
-A separate branch is created for each release. The name of the branch is
-``v[release]``, where ``[release]`` is the ``major.minor`` version number (see
-below). For example, the branch name for release ``1.0`` would be ``v1.0``.
-Hotfixes may be added to these release branches. Hotfixes should be merged
-into the master branch, and then cherry-picked onto the release branch(es).
-
-
-Every release (including hotfixes) is also tagged with its version number.
-For example, the first commit in the ``v1.0`` branch would also be tagged with
-``1.0``. A maintenance release to the ``v1.0`` branch would be tagged with
-``1.0.1``.
-
-
 Version number
 --------------
 
@@ -48,7 +31,7 @@ Version number
 The ``fslpy`` version number roughly follows `semantic versioning
 <http://semver.org/>`_ rules, so that dependant projects are able to perform
 compatibility testing.  The full version number string consists of three
-numbers:
+numbers::
 
     major.minor.patch
 
@@ -62,6 +45,27 @@ numbers:
   backwards-incompatible changes.
 
 
+Releases
+--------
+
+
+A separate branch is created for each **minor** release. The name of the
+branch is ``v[major.minor]``, where ``[major.minor]`` is the first two
+components of the release version number (see below). For example, the branch
+name for minor release ``1.0`` would be ``v1.0``.
+
+
+Patches and hotfixes may be added to these release branches. These should be
+merged into the master branch, and then cherry-picked onto the release
+branch(es).
+
+
+Every release is also tagged with its full version number.  For example, the
+first release off the ``v1.0`` branch would be tagged with ``1.0.0``.
+Maintenance release to the ``v1.0`` branch would be tagged with ``1.0.1``,
+``1.0.2``, etc.
+
+
 Testing
 -------
 
diff --git a/fsl/version.py b/fsl/version.py
index 28976a2246de5ef379948fca9792c744f643dc59..a298768cc78e91752f334c35a2356eac9b12d80b 100644
--- a/fsl/version.py
+++ b/fsl/version.py
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ which roughly obeys the Semantic Versioning conventions (http://semver.org/):
     which primarily involve bug-fixes and minor changes.
 """
 
+
+import string
+
+
 __version__ = '1.0.0'
 """Current version number, as a string. """
 
@@ -44,9 +48,16 @@ def parseVersionString(versionString):
 
     # Major, minor, and point
     # version are always numeric
-    major, minor, point = [int(c) for c in components]
+    major, minor, point = [c for c in components]
+
+    # Early versions of FSLeyes
+    # used a letter at the end
+    # to denote a hotfix release.
+    # Don't break if we get one
+    # of these old version numbers.
+    point = point.strip(string.ascii_letters)
 
-    return major, minor, point
+    return [int(c) for c in [major, minor, point]]
 
 
 def compareVersions(v1, v2, ignorePoint=False):