A good application will write output that has a literal copy of the numbered version, and a symlink point to it.
Bad applications either ignore symlinks entirely, or change them to duplicate copies of files. (Which can be bad if you're considering a large file such as foo-latest-release.tar.gz.)
.__ .___ __ .__ __ .__
|__| ____ __| _/____ _____/ |_ __ _ _|__|/ |_| |__
| |/ \ / __ |/ __ \ / \ __\ \ \/ \/ / \ __\ | \
| | | \/ /_/ \ ___/| | \ | \ /| || | | Y \
|__|___| /\____ |\___ >___| /__| \/\_/ |__||__| |___| /
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/
_____
/ | | _________________ ____ ____ ______
/ | |_ / ___/\____ \__ \ _/ ___\/ __ \ / ___/
/ ^ / \___ \ | |_> > __ \\ \__\ ___/ \___ \
\____ | /____ >| __(____ /\___ >___ >____ >
|__| \/ |__| \/ \/ \/ \/