4.21.2. Incrementing a Package Version

This section provides some background on how binary package versioning is accomplished and presents some of the services, variables, and terminology involved.

In order to understand binary package versioning, you need to consider the following:

Whenever the binary package content changes, the binary package version must change. Changing the binary package version is accomplished by changing or "bumping" the PR and/or PV values. Increasing these values occurs one of two ways:

Given a primary challenge of any build system and its users is how to maintain a package feed that is compatible with existing package manager applications such as RPM, APT, and OPKG, using an automated system is much preferred over a manual system. In either system, the main requirement is that binary package version numbering increases in a linear fashion and that a number of version components exist that support that linear progression. For information on how to ensure package revisioning remains linear, see the "Automatically Incrementing a Binary Package Revision Number" section.

The following three sections provide related information on the PR Service, the manual method for "bumping" PR and/or PV, and on how to ensure binary package revisioning remains linear.