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Each package name is of the form:

package-XubuntuY*_amd64(i386)

So my questions are:

  • What does the X stand for?
  • What does the Y stand for?

For example, in binutils_2.22-6ubuntu1.3_amd64, what is the meaning of the numbers 6 and 1.3?

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1 Answer 1

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There is a detailed explanation here and here. If you are really interested you can read the Debian Policy Manual also. To answer your questions:

  • X is the Debian version of the package.

  • ubuntuY is the Yth Ubuntu version of the Debian package.

To quote verbatim from the first link, package-XubuntuY means:

  1. package = this is the name of the program/library.

  2. X = this is the debian version of the package
    ‐ if X=0 this means that there is no debian package (or that the ubuntu team has forked a debian package to a newer version than the one found in the debian repositories)
    ex: bzip2-1.0.3-0ubuntu2
    (as shown in this example the debian package might be updated in the meantime and the ubuntu package will probably merged with it on the next version)

  3. ubuntuY = this is the Yth ubuntu version of the debian package.
    ‐ if this is missing this mean that it is a clean, unchanged debian package
    ex: gzip-1.3.5-12
    (in this sample, this is the original debian package included in ubuntu)
    ‐ if this is present it means that Ubuntu has taken the debian package and released it with some additional patches or bug fixes.
    ex: sudo-1.6.8p12-1ubuntu6
    (in this sample this is the 6th version of the ubuntu package based on the debian version 1.6.8p12-1 of sudo).

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  • 1
    Note: Ubuntu patches are stored under debian/patches on the deb, e.g. apt-get source gdb. You can also list all Ubuntu versions with changes between them with bzr branch ubuntu:gdb; cd gdb; bzr log | less Jul 26, 2015 at 9:13
  • Is there a particular reason it's XubuntuY and not X+ubuntuY?
    – NickBroon
    Sep 20, 2021 at 10:37

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