diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 # Revision history for rpm-nvr
 
+## 0.1.1 (2021-11-02)
+- fix a critical bug in rpmVerCompare numeric comparison
+- reading NVRA now removes any directory prefix
+- NVR and VerRel are now records
+
 ## 0.1.0 (2021-06-06)
 - initial release with NV, NVR, NVRA, VerRel and rpmVerCompare
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,5 +7,7 @@
 
 See the haddock documentation for more details.
 
+rpm-nvr is distributed under the GPLv2+ license.
+
 The testsuite includes testcases for comparing rpm versions
 from the main rpm project.
diff --git a/rpm-nvr.cabal b/rpm-nvr.cabal
--- a/rpm-nvr.cabal
+++ b/rpm-nvr.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name:                rpm-nvr
-version:             0.1.0
-synopsis:            RPM package name-version-release datatypes
+version:             0.1.1
+synopsis:            RPM package name-version-release data types
 description:
             The library provides types related to RPM package
             name-version-releases. There are modules for reading and showing:
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
                      ChangeLog.md
 cabal-version:       1.18
 tested-with:         GHC == 8.0.2, GHC == 8.2.2, GHC == 8.4.4, GHC == 8.6.5,
-                     GHC == 8.8.4, GHC == 8.10.4, GHC == 9.0.1
+                     GHC == 8.8.4, GHC == 8.10.7, GHC == 9.0.1
 
 source-repository head
   type:                git
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@
 
 library
   build-depends:       base < 5,
-                       extra >= 1.5.1
+                       extra >= 1.5.1,
+                       filepath
+
   default-language:    Haskell2010
   exposed-modules:     Data.RPM
                        Data.RPM.NV
@@ -61,6 +63,8 @@
                        -Wpartial-fields
   if impl(ghc >= 8.10)
     ghc-options:       -Wunused-packages
+  if impl(ghc < 7.6)
+     buildable: False
 
 test-suite tests
     type:               exitcode-stdio-1.0
@@ -70,6 +74,7 @@
                         RPM.VersionSpec
     build-depends:      hspec,
                         base < 5.0,
+                        filepath,
                         rpm-nvr
 
     default-language:   Haskell2010
diff --git a/src/Data/RPM/NVR.hs b/src/Data/RPM/NVR.hs
--- a/src/Data/RPM/NVR.hs
+++ b/src/Data/RPM/NVR.hs
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
 import Data.RPM.VerRel
 
 -- | An rpm package name-version-release
-data NVR = NVR String VerRel
+data NVR = NVR {nvrName :: String,
+                nvrVerRel :: VerRel}
   deriving Eq
 
 -- | render an name-version-release
diff --git a/src/Data/RPM/NVRA.hs b/src/Data/RPM/NVRA.hs
--- a/src/Data/RPM/NVRA.hs
+++ b/src/Data/RPM/NVRA.hs
@@ -19,12 +19,15 @@
 
 import Data.Either.Extra
 import Data.List.Extra
-import Data.Maybe
+#if !MIN_VERSION_extra(1,6,4)
+import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
+#endif
 #if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,11,0)
 import Data.Monoid ((<>))
 #endif
 import Data.RPM.NVR
 import Data.RPM.VerRel
+import System.FilePath (takeFileName)
 
 -- | RPM package with name, version-release, and architecture
 --
@@ -41,11 +44,13 @@
 showNVRA (NVRA n vr a) = n <> "-" <> showVerRel vr <> "." <> a
 
 -- | Either read a name-version-release.arch or return a failure string
+--
+-- Strips off ".rpm" extension and any directory path prefix.
 eitherNVRA :: String -> Either String NVRA
 eitherNVRA "" = Left "NVRA string cannot be empty"
 eitherNVRA s@('-':_) = Left $ "NVRA cannot start with '-': " ++ s
 eitherNVRA s =
-  let nvra = fromMaybe s $ stripSuffix ".rpm" s
+  let nvra = dropSuffix ".rpm" $ takeFileName s
   in
     case reverse (splitOn "-" nvra) of
       ps@(relarch:ver:emaN) ->
@@ -76,3 +81,8 @@
 -- | Identifier for an RPM package identified by name and arch
 showPkgIdent :: NVRA -> String
 showPkgIdent p = rpmName p <> "." <> rpmArch p
+
+#if !MIN_VERSION_extra(1,6,4)
+dropSuffix :: Eq a => [a] -> [a] -> [a]
+dropSuffix a b = fromMaybe b $ stripSuffix a b
+#endif
diff --git a/src/Data/RPM/VerCmp.hs b/src/Data/RPM/VerCmp.hs
--- a/src/Data/RPM/VerCmp.hs
+++ b/src/Data/RPM/VerCmp.hs
@@ -25,18 +25,17 @@
 rpmVerCompare :: String -> String -> Ordering
 rpmVerCompare a b =
   if a == b then EQ
-    else let
+  else
     -- strip out all non-version characters
     -- keep in mind the strings may be empty after this
-    a' = dropSeparators a
-    b' = dropSeparators b
-
-    -- rpm compares strings by digit and non-digit components, so grab the first
-    -- component of one type
-    fn = if isDigit (head a') then isDigit else isAsciiAlpha
-    (prefixA, suffixA) = span fn a'
-    (prefixB, suffixB) = span fn b'
- in
+    let a' = dropSeparators a
+        b' = dropSeparators b
+        -- rpm compares strings by digit and non-digit components,
+        -- so grab the first component of one type
+        fn = if isDigit (head a') then isDigit else isAsciiAlpha
+        (prefixA, suffixA) = span fn a'
+        (prefixB, suffixB) = span fn b'
+    in
     if | a' == b'                                       -> EQ
        -- Nothing left means the versions are equal
        {- null a' && null b'                             -> EQ -}
@@ -53,9 +52,10 @@
        -- otherwise, if one of the strings is null, the other is greater
        | (null a')                                        -> LT
        | (null b')                                        -> GT
-       -- Now we have two non-null strings, starting with a non-tilde version character
-       -- If one prefix is a number and the other is a string, the one that is a number
-       -- is greater.
+       -- Now we have two non-null strings starting with
+       -- a non-tilde version character.
+       -- If one prefix is a number and the other is a string,
+       -- the one that is a number is greater.
        | isDigit (head a') && (not . isDigit) (head b') -> GT
        | (not . isDigit) (head a') && isDigit (head b') -> LT
        | isDigit (head a')                                -> (prefixA `compareAsInts` prefixB) <> (suffixA `rpmVerCompare` suffixB)
@@ -65,11 +65,17 @@
     -- the version numbers can overflow Int, so strip leading 0's and do a string compare,
     -- longest string wins
     compareAsInts x y =
-        let x' = dropWhile (== '0') x
-            y' = dropWhile (== '0') y
-        in
-            if length x' > length y' then GT
-            else x' `compare` y'
+      if | x == y -> EQ
+         | null x -> LT
+         | null y -> GT
+         | otherwise ->
+           let x' = dropWhile (== '0') x
+               y' = dropWhile (== '0') y
+           in
+             case compare (length x') (length y') of
+               EQ ->
+                 (read x' :: Int) `compare` read y'
+               o -> o
 
     -- isAlpha returns any unicode alpha, but we just want ASCII characters
     isAsciiAlpha :: Char -> Bool
diff --git a/src/Data/RPM/VerRel.hs b/src/Data/RPM/VerRel.hs
--- a/src/Data/RPM/VerRel.hs
+++ b/src/Data/RPM/VerRel.hs
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 -- @rpmVerCompare@ for version and release.
 --
 -- FIXME: note currently rpmVerCompare is not used for Eq (like codec-rpm).
-data VerRel = VerRel String String
+data VerRel = VerRel {vrVersion :: String,
+                      vrRelease :: String}
   deriving (Eq)
 
 -- | Display a VerRel
diff --git a/test/RPM/PackageSpec.hs b/test/RPM/PackageSpec.hs
--- a/test/RPM/PackageSpec.hs
+++ b/test/RPM/PackageSpec.hs
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 import           Data.RPM.NVR
 import           Data.RPM.NVRA
 
+import System.FilePath (dropExtension, takeFileName)
+
 -- FIXME add some failures too
 pkgspec :: Spec
 pkgspec = do
@@ -23,3 +25,13 @@
     forM_ ["my-pkg-1.0.1-1.2.x86_64"] $ \pkg ->
       it pkg $
       showNVRA (readNVRA pkg) `shouldBe` pkg
+
+  describe "NVRA.rpm" $ do
+    forM_ ["my-pkg-1.0.1-1.2.x86_64.rpm"] $ \pkg ->
+      it pkg $
+      showNVRA (readNVRA pkg) `shouldBe` dropExtension pkg
+
+  describe "dir/NVRA.rpm" $ do
+    forM_ ["dir/my-pkg-1.0.1-1.2.x86_64.rpm"] $ \pkg ->
+      it pkg $
+      showNVRA (readNVRA pkg) `shouldBe` dropExtension (takeFileName pkg)
diff --git a/test/RPM/VersionSpec.hs b/test/RPM/VersionSpec.hs
--- a/test/RPM/VersionSpec.hs
+++ b/test/RPM/VersionSpec.hs
@@ -128,7 +128,10 @@
                          ("1.0~rc1", "1.0~rc1^git1", LT),
                          ("1.0^git1~pre", "1.0^git1~pre", EQ),
                          ("1.0^git1", "1.0^git1~pre", GT),
-                         ("1.0^git1~pre", "1.0^git1", LT)
+                         ("1.0^git1~pre", "1.0^git1", LT),
+
+                         -- local
+                         ("8", "13", LT)
                          ]
 
         forM_ vercmpCases $ \(verA, verB, ord) ->