RPM Package Version – Meaning of ‘Rolling’

centosrhelrpmyum

What does the word "rolling" in "1:13.0.1.9-2.rolling.el7" below signify?

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 Package                            Arch         Version                        Repository  Size
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Installing:
 java-latest-openjdk                x86_64       1:13.0.1.9-2.rolling.el7       epel       207 k
Installing for dependencies:
 java-latest-openjdk-headless       x86_64       1:13.0.1.9-2.rolling.el7       epel        40 M

Transaction Summary
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Best Answer

.rolling was added to the OpenJDK release number in Fedora, RHEL, and descendants to avoid file conflicts with the versioned OpenJDK packages (java-11-openjdk etc.). The latest package sometimes matches a versioned OpenJDK package, and when that happens, both packages ship files in the same locations; adding .rolling to the latest package’s release avoids this.

See #1647298 for details.

One possible meaning for “rolling” here is that it’s a continuously-updated package, which might change major versions within a release of the distribution.

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