Bug#232317: [DOC] Inaccurate info about dpkg --compare-versions

[Frédéric Bothamy <frederic.bothamy@free.fr>]

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.10.18
Severity: minor
Tags: patch

Hello,

I think that the documentation of dpkg is not accurate enough about the
option --compare-versions and its handling no version. According to it,
I would first understand that :

$ dpkg --compare-versions gt 2

is allowed whereas an empty string is needed.

Here is a patch that should clarify it :

diff -u -r dpkg-1.10.18/main/main.c dpkg-1.10.18_new/main/main.c
--- dpkg-1.10.18/main/main.c	2003-10-25 22:03:21.000000000 +0200
+++ dpkg-1.10.18_new/main/main.c	2004-02-09 21:32:20.000000000 +0100
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@
   --abort-after <n>              Abort after encountering <n> errors\n\
 \n\
 Comparison operators for --compare-versions are:\n\
- lt le eq ne ge gt       (treat no version as earlier than any version);\n\
- lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl (treat no version as later than any version);\n\
+ lt le eq ne ge gt       (treat empty version as earlier than any version);\n\
+ lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl (treat empty version as later than any version);\n\
  < << <= = >= >> >       (only for compatibility with control file syntax).\n\
 \n\
 Use `dselect' for user-friendly package management.\n"),
diff -u -r dpkg-1.10.18/man/en/dpkg.8.sgml dpkg-1.10.18_new/man/en/dpkg.8.sgml
--- dpkg-1.10.18/man/en/dpkg.8.sgml	2002-05-13 23:00:32.000000000 +0200
+++ dpkg-1.10.18_new/man/en/dpkg.8.sgml	2004-02-12 00:53:57.000000000 +0100
@@ -686,9 +686,9 @@
 	  operator. <command>dpkg</command> returns success (zero result) if
 	  the specified condition is satisfied, and failure (nonzero result)
 	  otherwise.  There are two groups of operators, which differ in how
-	  they treat a missing <option>ver1</option> or <option>ver2</option>.
-	  These treat no version as earlier than any version:
-	  <emphasis>lt le eq ne ge gt</emphasis>. These treat no version as
+	  they treat an empty <option>ver1</option> or <option>ver2</option>.
+	  These treat an empty version as earlier than any version:
+	  <emphasis>lt le eq ne ge gt</emphasis>. These treat an empy version as
 	  later than any version: <emphasis>lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl</emphasis>.
 	  These are provided only for compatibility with
 	  <filename>control</filename> file syntax: <emphasis>&lt; &lt;&lt;


Fred

-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux hera 2.4.22 #1 Wed Nov 19 02:22:20 CET 2003 i686
Locale: LANG=fr_FR@euro, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR@euro

Versions of packages dpkg depends on:
ii  dselect                     1.10.18      a user tool to manage Debian packa
ii  libc6                       2.3.2.ds1-11 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an

-- no debconf information