Re: nb suffix to package names

[Bill Hacker <wbh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Archimedes Gaviola wrote:
> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 5:26 PM, Saifi Khan <saifi.khan@twincling.org> wrote:
> > Hi:
> >
> > Noticed that some of the packages installed from the dfly 2.2.1
> > DVD have 'nb' suffixes, for example:
> >
> > xconsole-1.0.3nb1
> > shared-mime-info-0.51nb2
> > rxvt-unicode-8.3nb4
> >
> > Two questions here:
> >  . what does the 'nb' suffix mean ?
> >  . what is the interpretation of the number after 'nb' ?
> >
> >
> > thanks
> > Saifi.
>
> Hi Saifi,
>
> I think this 'nb' is a NetBSD convention to their software packages -
> pkgsrc which is what DragonFly is using.
>
> Thanks,
> Archimedes

Google finds a bit of history:

The NetBSD pkgsrc collection as of
   2000-02-14 contains versions of the ssh.com 1.2.27 distribution,
   patched to avoid the buffer overflow; these are identified by an
   "nb1" suffix in the package version.

and:

/* this struct defines a version number */
typedef struct arr_t {
	unsigned	c;              /* # of version numbers */
	unsigned	size;           /* size of array */
	int	       *v;              /* array of decimal numbers */
	int		netbsd;         /* any "nb" suffix */
} arr_t;


No idea what current use is, but a NetBSD sub-ID similar to a more generic 'p(X) 
patchlevel does look to be a reasonable fit.

Bill