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 accepts any string and consider it as a valid version. If you  pass  the
           option "check => 1", it will return undef if the version is invalid (see version_check for details).

           You can always call $v->is_valid() later on to verify that the version is valid.

       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(%options)
           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.

1.22.6                                             2024-07-17                               Dpkg::Version(3perl)