Dpkg::Version(3perl) libdpkg-perl Dpkg::Version(3perl)
NAME
Dpkg::Version - handling and comparing dpkg-style version numbers
DESCRIPTION
The Dpkg::Version module provides pure-Perl routines to compare dpkg-
style version numbers (as used in Debian packages) and also an object
oriented interface overriding perl operators to do the right thing when
you compare Dpkg::Version object between them.
METHODS
$v = Dpkg::Version->new($version, %opts)
Create a new Dpkg::Version object corresponding to the version
indicated in the string (scalar) $version. By default it will accept
any string and consider it as a valid version, but this can be
controlled with the "check" option.
You can always call $v->is_valid() later on to verify that the
version is valid.
Options:
check
Setting this option to true will return undef if the version is
invalid (see $v->version_check() for details).
boolean evaluation
When the Dpkg::Version object is used in a boolean evaluation (for
example in "if ($v)" or "$v ? \"$v\" : 'default'") it returns true
if the version stored is valid ($v->is_valid()) and false otherwise.
Notice: Between dpkg 1.15.7.2 and 1.19.1 this overload used to
return $v->as_string() if $v->is_valid(), a breaking change in
behavior that caused "0" versions to be evaluated as false. To catch
any possibly intended code that relied on those semantics, this
overload emitted a warning with category
"Dpkg::Version::semantic_change::overload::bool" between dpkg 1.19.1
and 1.20.0. Once fixed, or for already valid code the warning could
be quiesced for that specific versions with
no if $Dpkg::Version::VERSION eq '1.02',
warnings => qw(Dpkg::Version::semantic_change::overload::bool);
added after the "use Dpkg::Version".
$v->is_valid()
Returns true if the version is valid, false otherwise.
$v->epoch(), $v->version(), $v->revision()
Returns the corresponding part of the full version string.
$v->is_native()
Returns true if the version is native, false if it has a revision.
$v1 <=> $v2, $v1 < $v2, $v1 <= $v2, $v1 > $v2, $v1 >= $v2
Numerical comparison of various versions numbers. One of the two
operands needs to be a Dpkg::Version, the other one can be anything
provided that its string representation is a version number.
"$v", $v->as_string(), $v->as_string(%opts)
Accepts an optional option hash reference, affecting the string
conversion.
Options:
omit_epoch (defaults to 0)
Omit the epoch, if present, in the output string.
omit_revision (defaults to 0)
Omit the revision, if present, in the output string.
Returns the string representation of the version number.
FUNCTIONS
All the functions are exported by default.
version_compare($a, $b)
Returns -1 if $a is earlier than $b, 0 if they are equal and 1 if $a
is later than $b.
If $a or $b are not valid version numbers, it dies with an error.
version_compare_relation($a, $rel, $b)
Returns the result (0 or 1) of the given comparison operation. This
function is implemented on top of version_compare().
Allowed values for $rel are the exported constants REL_GT, REL_GE,
REL_EQ, REL_LE, REL_LT. Use version_normalize_relation() if you have
an input string containing the operator.
$rel = version_normalize_relation($rel_string)
Returns the normalized constant of the relation $rel (a value among
REL_GT, REL_GE, REL_EQ, REL_LE and REL_LT). Supported relations
names in input are: "gt", "ge", "eq", "le", "lt", ">>", ">=", "=",
"<=", "<<". ">" and "<" are also supported but should not be used as
they are obsolete aliases of ">=" and "<=".
version_compare_string($a, $b)
String comparison function used for comparing non-numerical parts of
version numbers. Returns -1 if $a is earlier than $b, 0 if they are
equal and 1 if $a is later than $b.
The "~" character always sort lower than anything else. Digits sort
lower than non-digits. Among remaining characters alphabetic
characters (A-Z, a-z) sort lower than the other ones. Within each
range, the ASCII decimal value of the character is used to sort
between characters.
version_compare_part($a, $b)
Compare two corresponding sub-parts of a version number (either
upstream version or debian revision).
Each parameter is split by version_split_digits() and resulting
items are compared together. As soon as a difference happens, it
returns -1 if $a is earlier than $b, 0 if they are equal and 1 if $a
is later than $b.
@items = version_split_digits($version)
Splits a string in items that are each entirely composed either of
digits or of non-digits. For instance for "1.024~beta1+svn234" it
would return ("1", ".", "024", "~beta", "1", "+svn", "234").
($ok, $msg) = version_check($version)
$ok = version_check($version)
Checks the validity of $version as a version number. Returns 1 in
$ok if the version is valid, 0 otherwise. In the latter case, $msg
contains a description of the problem with the $version scalar.
CHANGES
Version 1.03 (dpkg 1.20.0)
Remove deprecation warning from semantic change in 1.02.
Version 1.02 (dpkg 1.19.1)
Semantic change: bool evaluation semantics restored to their original
behavior.
Version 1.01 (dpkg 1.17.0)
New argument: Accept an options argument in $v->as_string().
New method: $v->is_native().
Version 1.00 (dpkg 1.15.6)
Mark the module as public.
1.22.21 2025-06-30 Dpkg::Version(3perl)
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