Why do different packages have the same version?

Mr.

11/27/23, 10:30 AM

A bot detects changes in Ubuntu packages and triggers a new installation of the package. Currently, the installation is failing since the bot tries to install a specific version of the package which does not seem to exist:

$ apt-get update
...
Reading package lists... Done

$ apt-get install python3=3.10.6-1~22.04.1 -y
...
E: Version '3.10.6-1~22.04.1' for 'python3' was not found

Looking at python3 packages, version 3.10.6-1~22.04.1 is listed and it also appears in launchpad.

Strangely, when the version constraint is dropped, apt-get installs the package 3.10.6-1~22.04.1

$ apt-get install python3 -y
...
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 python3.10-minimal amd64 3.10.6-1~22.04.1 [2263 kB]
...
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 python3.10 amd64 3.10.6-1~22.04.1 [497 kB]
...
Unpacking python3.10-minimal (3.10.6-1~22.04.1) ...
...
Setting up python3.10-minimal (3.10.6-1~22.04.1) ...

Although the package name is 3.10.6-1~22.04.1 its version is 3.10.6-1~22.04

$ dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' python3
3.10.6-1~22.04

$ apt-cache show python3 | grep Version | head -n 1
Version: 3.10.6-1~22.04

Is this a bug that package 3.10.6-1~22.04 and 3.10.6-1~22.04.1 have the same version? If not, a clarification on the matter will be great.

0 + 4

apt

python3

Greenonline

11/27/23, 11:04 AM

Maybe this particular package was incorrectly named (or incorrectly versioned)? Have you seen any other examples of this behaviour?

Mr.

11/27/23, 11:40 AM

@Greenonline I have yet came across other examples. Yet, do you think the package was versioned incorrectly?

Greenonline

11/27/23, 11:51 AM

I really don't know, but, as you point out, there is a mismatch in the name and version info - maybe this is deliberate (or a limitation of some sort)? I looked into it a bit: [Understanding Debian dpkg package version numbers](https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/96599/97255) but didn't look too hard and didn't find anything obvious.

user535733

11/27/23, 1:35 PM

Hmmm. It might indeed be a bug. The the [changelog](https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/p/python3.10/python3.10_3.10.6-1~22.04.1/changelog) shows that .1 is a security update pushed several weeks ago, and the Ubuntu Security Team's [CVE Tracker](https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-42919) agrees. Were I in your position, I would [email the Ubuntu Security Team directly](https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-hardened) with this question about what happened to the .1 patched version.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Why do different packages have the same version?

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.