  Is dpkg --compare-versions canonical?  dpkg --compare-versions
provides exactly the ordering that I want, namely that 1.4rc1 <
1.4.0 so by omitting the final patch number in the RC revision I
can use the correct upstream version without using epochs or
strange-looking version numbers.  However, since this is a bit
of an edge case, I wanted to double-check and be sure that dpkg
--compare-versions is the canonical ordering for version
numbers.  I'm pretty sure it is, but better safe than sorry to
check.  Is there a document anywhere outside of the dpkg source
that explains the algorithm for how version numbers are ordered
by the archive software?   Reply to: