Asterisk and pre-release versions

[sagikazarmark]

I would assume that * constraint just accepts any version that is >=0.0.0, but it does not accept eg. 3.0.0-rc2.

Is this a bug or is it on purpose? (Can't recall at the moment how package managers behave in this scenario, but some of them also define a separate stability flag which modifies the behaviour of constraint checking, so in some cases the above example would work)

[mattfarina]

@sagikazarmark * accepts any release version. 3.0.0-rc2 is a pre-release version. This is similar to how others treat it. For example, node-semver (which powers npm)...

± semver -r "*" 1.2.3 1.2.3-alpha.1
1.2.3

Per the spec, pre-release versions may not be compatible with their releases. * is currently designed to work on releases. Does that help?

You should be able to use >=0.0.0-1 and get everything including pre-releases. When a pre-release is included in the constraint they are then checked.

Does that help?

[sagikazarmark]

Yes, it does, thanks for the detailed clarification.