Confused about nginx version number

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I’m administrating an Ubuntu 14 server. When I type nginx -v in bash, I get nginx version: nginx/1.4.6 (Ubuntu). According to nginx.org, the latest stable version appears to be 1.13.9, not 1.4.6. However, when I run sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade nginx, I get the response “most recent version is already installed”. From this, I understand that the version number I get from nginx -v is not completely unambiguous. What does the version number mean?

Answer

Ubuntu’s packages do not go at the same pace as origin software version.

The latest supported version of nginx for Ubuntu 14.04 by Canonical is the version you see from the output of the nginx -v command, which is 1.4.6 in this case. Ubuntu’s own packages go through Canonical’s own testing and integration processes, and they select particular versions they want to support with their OS.

Also, Ubuntu 14 is not the newest Ubuntu distribution available, the 16.04 version most likely has a newer version of nginx available.

There might be unofficial packages of newer nginx versions available for Ubuntu, you can search for those on the Internet.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Magnus , Answer Author : Tero Kilkanen

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