meaning of 'Provides: X' '>' or '>=' %evr ?

[Krzysztof Żelechowski]

The baseline syntax for package versions is designed to be straightforward and intuitive.  The details may vary between distributions and releases, mainly due to new source distribution channels and release conventions appearing from time to time and the main problem is how to compare them so as not to fall out of sync.  I agree it would be a good thing to have the baseline specified somehow.
Chris