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NAME

       deb-version - Debian package version number format

SYNOPSIS

       [ epoch:] upstream_version [-debian_revision ]

DESCRIPTION

       Version  numbers  as used for Debian binary and source packages consist
       of three components. These are:

       epoch  This is a single (generally small) unsigned integer.  It may  be
              omitted,  in  which case zero is assumed.  If it is omitted then
              the upstream_version may not contain any colons.

              It is provided to allow mistakes in the version numbers of older
              versions  of  a  package,  and also a package's previous version
              numbering schemes, to be left behind.

       upstream_version
              This is the main part of the version number.  It is usually  the
              version  number  of the original ("upstream") package from which
              the .deb file has been made, if  this  is  applicable.   Usually
              this  will  be  in  the  same  format  as  that specified by the
              upstream author(s); however, it may need to  be  reformatted  to
              fit  into  the package management system's format and comparison
              scheme.

              The comparison behavior of the package  management  system  with
              respect   to  the  upstream_version  is  described  below.   The
              upstream_version portion of the version number is mandatory.

              The upstream_version  may  contain  only  alphanumerics  ("A-Za-
              z0-9")  and  the  characters . + - : ~ (full stop, plus, hyphen,
              colon, tilde) and should start with a digit.   If  there  is  no
              debian_revision  then  hyphens  are  not allowed; if there is no
              epoch then colons are not allowed.

       debian_revision
              This part of the version number specifies  the  version  of  the
              Debian  package  based  on the upstream version.  It may contain
              only alphanumerics and the characters + . ~  (plus,  full  stop,
              tilde)  and  is compared in the same way as the upstream_version
              is.

              It is optional; if it isn't present  then  the  upstream_version
              may not contain a hyphen.  This format represents the case where
              a piece of software was written specifically to be turned into a
              Debian  package,  and so there is only one "debianisation" of it
              and therefore no revision indication is required.

              It is conventional to restart the debian_revision  at  '1'  each
              time time the upstream_version is increased.

              Dpkg  will  break the version number apart at the last hyphen in
              the string (if there is one) to determine  the  upstream_version
              and  debian_revision.  The absence of a debian_revision compares
              earlier  than  the  presence  of  one   (but   note   that   the
              debian_revision  is  the  least  significant part of the version
              number).

   Sorting Algorithm
       The upstream_version and debian_revision  parts  are  compared  by  the
       package management system using the same algorithm:

       The strings are compared from left to right.

       First  the initial part of each string consisting entirely of non-digit
       characters is determined.  These two parts (one of which may be  empty)
       are  compared lexically.  If a difference is found it is returned.  The
       lexical comparison is a comparison of ASCII values modified so that all
       the  letters  sort earlier than all the non-letters and so that a tilde
       sorts before anything, even the  end  of  a  part.   For  example,  the
       following  parts are in sorted order: '~~', '~~a', '~', the empty part,
       'a'.

       Then the initial part of the remainder of each  string  which  consists
       entirely  of  digit  characters is determined.  The numerical values of
       these two parts are compared, and any difference found is  returned  as
       the  result  of  the  comparison.   For  these purposes an empty string
       (which can only occur at the end of one or both version  strings  being
       compared) counts as zero.

       These  two  steps (comparing and removing initial non-digit strings and
       initial digit strings) are repeated until a difference is found or both
       strings are exhausted.

       Note that the purpose of epochs is to allow us to leave behind mistakes
       in version numbering, and to cope with  situations  where  the  version
       numbering  scheme  changes.   It  is  not intended to cope with version
       numbers containing strings of  letters  which  the  package  management
       system  cannot  interpret  (such  as  'ALPHA' or 'pre-'), or with silly
       orderings.

CAVEATS

       The tilde character and its special sorting properties were  introduced
       in  dpkg,  version  1.10 and some parts of dpkg-dev only gained support
       for it later in the 1.10.x series.

SEE ALSO

       deb-control(5), deb(5), dpkg(1)

AUTHORS

       Copyright (C) 1996,1997,1998 Ian Jackson and Christian Schwarz
       Copyright (C) 2007 Frank Lichtenheld

       This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2  or
       later for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY.