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packagename-a.b.c-x.arch.rpm

Packagename - Title of the package, can vary from distributor to distributor

a.b.c - Version of the package. The version number doesn’t have to be three period-separated numbers, but that’s the most common form. The program author assigns the version number.

Build Number - The number following the version number (x) is the build number (also known as the release number). This number represents minor changes made by the package maintainer, not by the program author. These changes may represent altered startup scripts or configuration files, changed file locations, added documentation, or patches appended to the original program to fix bugs or to make the program more compatible with the target Linux distribution. Many distribution maintainers add a letter code to the build number to distinguish their packages from those of others. Note that these numbers are not comparable across package maintainers—George’s build number 5 of a package is not necessarily an improvement on Susan’s build number 4 of the same package.

Architecture - The last part is the package's utilized architecture. i386 is the most common, representing a file compiled for any x86 CPU from 80386 onward. Some packages include optimizations for Pentiums or above (i586 or i686), and non-x86 binary packages use codes for their CPUs, such as ppc for PowerPC CPUs or x86_64 for the x86-64 platform. Scripts, documentation, and other CPU-independent packages generally use the noarch architecture code. The main exception to this rule is source RPMs, which use the src architecture code.