package resolution issue in 1.5.x

[gazal-k]

When using bower 1.4.1 a package specification: dcjs#~2.0.0 correctly resolves to dcjs#2.0.0-beta.17
But when using bower 1.5.1, getting the following error

bower dcjs#~2.0.0                              ENORESTARGET No tag found that was able to satisfy ~2.0.0

Additional error details:
Available versions: 2.0.0-beta.17, 2.0.0-beta.16, 2.0.0-beta.15, 2.0.0-beta.14, 2.0.0-beta.13, 2.0.0-beta.12, 2.0.0-beta.11, 2.0.0-beta.10, 2.0.0-beta.9, 2.0.0-beta.8, 2.0.0-beta.7, 2.0.0-beta.6, 2.0.0-beta.5, 2.0.0-beta.4, 2.0.0-beta.3, 2.0.0-beta.2, 2.0.0-beta.1, 2.0.0-alpha.5, 2.0.0-alpha.4, 2.0.0-alpha.3, 2.0.0-alpha.2, 2.0.0-alpha, 1.7.3, 1.7.2, 1.7.1, 1.7.0, 1.6.0, 1.5.0, 1.4.0, 1.3.0, 0.9.1, 0.7.1, 0.7.0, 0.6.0, 0.5.0, 0.4.0, 0.3.0, 0.2.0, 0.1.0

[sheerun]

I've reverted semver upgrade in 1.5.2, so it should be fixed now..

[lebolo]

I don't have a particular need for semver 5.x, but I do favor newer versions of any dependency in general. So is reverting really the solution here? In #1852, you said

Makes sense. As I said the benefits overweight drawbacks (backward-incompatibility can only happen if package consists of only prereleases and user required non-prerelease version), so I'm merging it.

I think developers who require dcjs 2.0.0-beta.x should explicitly ask for dcjs#~2.0.0-beta.x or move up to a an actual release version.

So I would vote for keeping semver 5.x, thoughts?

[gazal-k]

@lebolo now that I read up on the breaking change in semver 5.x with regard to pre-release tags and the reason for that change, I think I agree.

Just to confirm, if I need the latest beta of dcjs, the bower dependency would have to be: dcjs#>2.0.0-beta.0 ?

[donaldpipowitch]

I think so, yes. semver 5.x should be the correct behavior, not a bug.

[JSteunou]

+1 2.0.0 starts is 2.0.0 stable not beta included

[sheerun]

I was wrong, as this can break things more often: not only when package consists of only pre-releases, but also when selected range (like 2.0.x) consists only of prereleases. This issue is an example of it.

Given large usebase of bower 1.x, stability should be a priority. Personally, I'd like to see some kind of --beta flag for bower for opting in for such changes, and then make it default in 2.0.0.

[thehonestcto]

@sheerun I agree. +1