Dependency resolution of preferred version doesn't work with source dependencies

[tudortimi]

Expected Behavior

We're using a version range for a source dependency. We would also like to specify a preferred version. Gradle should clone the version specify by the preferred version.

Current Behavior

Currently, it seems that Gradle clones the newest version that satisfies the version range.

Context (optional)

No response

Steps to Reproduce

I've attached a Git repo for the dependency, called producer. This repo contains three tags, 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0.

I've also attached another Gradle project, called consumer, which uses the Git repo as a source dependency.

consumer has the following in its build.gradle:

dependencies {
  implementation('dummy:producer') {
    version {
      strictly '[1.0, 2.0)'
      prefer '1.0'      
    }
  }
}

We see Gradle cloning version 1.1, not the preferred 1.0 version.

To reproduce, download the two zips:
consumer.zip
producer.git.zip

unzip producer.git.zip
unzip consumer.zip -d consumer

cd consumer
gradle run

You should see Producing version 1.1.

Gradle version

6.7.1, 7.4.2, 8.1.1

Build scan URL (optional)

No response

Your Environment (optional)

No response

[jbartok]

Thank you for providing a valid report.

The issue is in the backlog of the relevant team, but this area of Gradle is currently not a focus one, so it might take a while before a fix is made.