tracked it down to this lines in the file dpkg-1.18.4ubuntu1/lib/dpkg/parsehelp.c at the end of function parseversion() at line #186:
/* XXX: Would be faster to use something like cisversion and cisrevision. */ ptr = rversion->version; if (*ptr && !c_isdigit(*ptr++)) return dpkg_put_warn(err, _("version number does not start with digit")); for (; *ptr; ptr++) { if (!c_isdigit(*ptr) && !c_isalpha(*ptr) && strchr(".-+~:", *ptr) == NULL) return dpkg_put_warn(err, _("invalid character in version number")); } for (ptr = rversion->revision; *ptr; ptr++) { if (!c_isdigit(*ptr) && !c_isalpha(*ptr) && strchr(".+~", *ptr) == NULL) return dpkg_put_warn(err, _("invalid character in revision number")); } quick rationale: no underscores/colon(revision only)/special-chars/others allowed at present for neither version number nor the revision number. valid design as of now for version item: * start with a digit. * continue with digit, alpha or ".-+~:" chars. * terminate with a zero char. valid design as of now for revision item: * start/continue with digit, alpha or ".+~" chars. * terminate with a zero char. a sequence of "x86_64" would not work for any these strings => underscore! a sequence of "3.4.5@home" would not work for any these strings => at-sign! a sequence of "3:1.45" would not work for the revision string => colon! a sequence of "3-4-5" would not work for the revision string => any dash! (the warn message would be raised for the first occurrence) your sequence of "1:0.9.12.2+6.04.20160823-0ubuntu1" does not work => special char included! rectangular box here in the view. it might be some extended OEM char or a UTF-8 char or an unicode char or whatever. either it sneaked in originally, or it was added later on - even a backspace, CTRL+C or line break might be the root cause. You should be able to trace it down on your own. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1701756 Title: dpkg reports invalid character in version number on package 'compiz' To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/1701756/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs