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Currently, I am trying to understand how distro maintainer build and choose names for their packages and there is (from my point of view) a lack of coherence for a specific package.

Take the libzmq for Ubuntu : http://pkgs.org/ubuntu-15.10/ubuntu-universe-amd64/libzmq3_4.0.5+dfsg-2_amd64.deb.html

Here are my questions :

  • the package name is libzmq3 and the version is 4.0.5, but why did they not created a package libzmq4 ?
  • according to the version 4.0.5, I was expecting a libzmq.so.4.0.5 file inside the package, but there is only a libzmq.so.3.1.0 file. Just for a basic check, I retrieved the tarball for zmq v4.0.5 and made the build from source : I got a file called libzmq.4.0.0, this makes more sense to me but doesn't explain to me all these differences...

I think there is a misunderstanding on my side, I need some lights and/or answers :-)

Thanks by advance

b0z
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  • It's in Universe repository, and so is probably imported as-is from Debian and probably only the Debian maintainer can answer it. Does the version on Debian have the same behaviour? – muru Jun 01 '15 at 19:57
  • Read the packaging guide - https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/first.en.html#namever – Panther Jun 01 '15 at 20:00
  • already done, I did not found the answers I was looking for :-) – b0z Jun 01 '15 at 20:05
  • If you replied to @bodhi.zazen or to me, tag us with @ so that we get notified, please. – muru Jun 01 '15 at 20:17
  • possible duplicate of What does dsfg as a part of package names mean? – Panther Jun 01 '15 at 20:50
  • http://askubuntu.com/questions/11592/what-does-dsfg-as-a-part-of-package-names-mean and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_Free_Software_Guidelines – Panther Jun 01 '15 at 20:50
  • You need to be more specific as to what part of the Debian naming conventions you do not understand, otherwise your question is too broad. – Panther Jun 01 '15 at 20:54
  • And you need to look at the source code that was packaged, not some tar ball you downloaded from who knows where. Again, you really need to read the packaging guide =) – Panther Jun 01 '15 at 21:04
  • @bodhi.zazen As I said before, I already read the packaging guide : the content seems clear enough to me. But I do not understand why sometimes the version of a software overcomes the package name which sometimes contains itself a version (e.g sqlite3). As you said, I will check more precisely the content of the source code packaged. – b0z Jun 01 '15 at 21:11
  • You are also confusing package naming and naming of the contents of the package (libs). The vesion / tar ball you downloaded outside of apt may or may not be the same source code used to make the package. Some packages have their own rules and the package you are using as an example is following standard Debian (Ubuntu) packaging standards, so I am not sure what part of the Debian packaging guide you do not understand. – Panther Jun 02 '15 at 03:04
  • @bodhi.zazen not enough space for describing a complete case study here. Thank you anyway :-) – b0z Jun 02 '15 at 06:10
  • This site is not conducive to "complete case studies" as you put it , we would re-type the debian packaging guide and not all packages follow the naming conventions all the time. Again you are confusing the Debian Package name with names on the contens (specific libs) and across versions of source code. Read the packaging guide, make a simple package, and ask if you have a specific question about packaging. The example you gave , as far as I can tell, follows the standard naming conventions and I gave you several links as to how they are derived. – Panther Jun 02 '15 at 12:47

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