compver(4)                                                       compver(4)

NAME
     compver - compatible versions file

DESCRIPTION
     compver is an ASCII file used to specify previous versions of the
     associated package which are upwards compatible. It is created by a
     package developer.

     Each line of the file specifies a previous version of the associated
     package with which the current version is backwards compatible.

     Since some packages may require installation of a specific version of
     another software package, compatibility information is extremely cru-
     cial. Consider, for example, a package called A which requires version
     "1.0" of package B as a prerequisite for installation. If the customer
     who installed package A now has a newer version of B (Version 1.3),
     the compver file for B must contain an entry "1.0", which indicates
     that Version "1.3" from the pkginfo(4) file of B is compatible with
     Version "1.0" of B, so that the customer can install package A.

NOTES
     The comparison of the version string disregards white space and tabs.
     It is performed on a word-by-word basis. Thus "4         1.3" and
     "4 1.3" would be considered the same.

EXAMPLE
     A sample compver file is shown below.

     1.2
     1.0

     If this package contains the entry VERSION="1.3" in pkginfo(4), ver-
     sions "1.3", "1.2" and "1.0" are compatible.

SEE ALSO
     depend(4), pkginfo(4).



















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