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I tried to check my libssh-dev version by running the following command:

user@client56:~$ dpkg -l | grep libssh
ii  libssh-4:amd64                              0.6.3-4.3ubuntu0.5                              amd64        tiny C SSH library (OpenSSL flavor)
ii  libssh-dev                                  0.6.3-4.3ubuntu0.5                              amd64        tiny C SSH library. Development files (OpenSSL flavor)
ii  libssh-gcrypt-4:amd64                       0.6.3-4.3ubuntu0.5                              amd64        tiny C SSH library (gcrypt flavor)

I see "0.6.3-4.3ubuntu0.5" but I'm not sure how to interpret it. I suppose the version is 0.6.3. But what does 4.3 and 0.5 mean?

Also, how do I properly uninstall libssh so that I can manually install the latest version (0.9.4 at the time of writing) from the source tarballs? Or is there are a way to upgrade to the latest version from the version already installed?

EDIT: The number 4.3 refers to the debian version of the package and 0.5 refers to the Ubuntu version of the debian package. More information can be found here: What is the meaning of the XubuntuY string in Ubuntu package names?

Tharun Prabhu
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    Run sudo apt show libssh-4 to see the actual libssh version. In my case for ubuntu 20.04 it's 0.9.3. In Your case You have 0.6.3. Check here for a versions available for Your ubuntu: https://www.ubuntuupdates.org/pm/libssh-4 – Michal Przybylowicz Jul 01 '20 at 13:01
  • Usually you will not be able to upgrade to a 'newer version' unless it's present in the repositories for your Ubuntu version. See https://askubuntu.com/questions/151283/why-dont-the-ubuntu-repositories-have-the-latest-versions-of-software for more details on this. – Thomas Ward Jul 01 '20 at 13:34
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    I think the main thrust of the question ("can I use this older package in this older release, or should I use newer packages" is answered by https://askubuntu.com/questions/1230095/how-do-new-package-versions-find-their-way-to-the-lts-distribution-current-exa/1230104#1230104. 0.9.4 is currently in testing for Ubuntu 20.10 and won't be backported to older releases. However, the Ubuntu Security Team regularly patches those older packages -- they are safe to use. The link explains why. – user535733 Jul 01 '20 at 14:28

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