pg_debver: Debian Version Support for PostgreSQL

pg_debver provides the debversion data type for PostgreSQL, implementing native storage, comparison, hashing, and indexing for Debian package version strings in full compliance with the Debian Policy Manual §5.6.12.

The version comparison algorithm is derived from Novell's libsolv (solv_vercmp_deb), ensuring exact fidelity with dpkg --compare-versions.

Features

• EVR Support: Handles [epoch:]upstream_version[-debian_revision] format.
• Strict Validation: Strict syntax checking during input (debversion_in), lax constructor (to_debversion), and non-throwing validator (is_debversion).
• Operators: =, <>, <, <=, >=, > with B-tree index support.
• Normalized Hashing: 32-bit (hash_debversion) and 64-bit (hash_debversion_extended) hash functions normalize equivalent epochs (0:1.0 vs 1.0) and leading zeros, ensuring hash index correctness and declarative hash partitioning compatibility.
• Aggregates: min() and max().
• Range Type: Built-in debversionrange range type.
• Accessors:
  • get_debversion_epoch(debversion) -> integer
  • get_debversion_upstream(debversion) -> text
  • get_debversion_revision(debversion) -> text
• Compatibility: Aliased as both pg_debver and debversion extensions.

Building and Installation

Build and install using PGXS:

make PG_CONFIG=/path/to/pg_config
make PG_CONFIG=/path/to/pg_config install

Run regression tests:

make PG_CONFIG=/path/to/pg_config installcheck

Usage

CREATE EXTENSION pg_debver;

-- Basic comparison
SELECT '2:1.0-1'::debversion > '1:2.0-1'::debversion; -- true (epoch takes precedence)
SELECT '1.0~rc1-1'::debversion < '1.0-1'::debversion; -- true (~ sorts before empty)
SELECT '0:1.0'::debversion = '1.0'::debversion;       -- true (omitted epoch equals 0)

-- Accessor functions
SELECT get_debversion_epoch('2:1.4.0-1ubuntu1'::debversion);    -- 2
SELECT get_debversion_upstream('2:1.4.0-1ubuntu1'::debversion); -- 1.4.0
SELECT get_debversion_revision('2:1.4.0-1ubuntu1'::debversion); -- 1ubuntu1

-- Indexing
CREATE TABLE packages (
    id serial PRIMARY KEY,
    name text NOT NULL,
    version debversion NOT NULL
);

CREATE INDEX idx_packages_ver_btree ON packages USING btree (version);
CREATE INDEX idx_packages_ver_hash ON packages USING hash (version);

Lineage

This extension was originally started as a patch to add Debian Policy Manual §5.6.12 support to pg-semver (available at https://github.com/postsql/pg-semver-with-debver/tree/with-debverr), but was extracted into a separate extension when the code overlap turned out to be minimal.

The available functionality should be very similar.

License

PostgreSQL License (extension scaffolding and PostgreSQL bindings) and Novell BSD-3-Clause License (src/debver_evr.* libsolv comparison algorithm). See LICENSE for details.

Security

To report a vulnerability or read our security process and response timelines, please review the Security Policy.