[Dovecot] version question

[Gedalya]

On 02/21/2014 11:37 PM, voytek at sbt.net.au wrote:
> --> Running transaction check
> ---> Package dovecot.x86_64 1:2.0.21-0_136.el6 will be updated
> ---> Package dovecot.x86_64 1:2.1.17-0_136.el6 will be an update
> ---> Package dovecot-managesieve.x86_64 2:0.2.6-22.el6 will be updated
> ---> Package dovecot-managesieve.x86_64 2:0.3.6-26.el6 will be an update
> ---> Package dovecot-pigeonhole.x86_64 2:0.2.6-22.el6 will be updated
> ---> Package dovecot-pigeonhole.x86_64 2:0.3.6-26.el6 will be an update
> --> Finished Dependency Resolution
> ahem, dumb question ahead: what's the '1' in front ? 1:2.1.17-0_136
>
>
As you can see the 1: prefix appears also in your currently installed 
packages.
The number followed by a colon, e.g. 1:, is not part of the upstream 
version, it's called an epoch and it's part of the package version. It's 
a trick related to your package manager and its repositories, not to the 
specific software in question.