SemVer
The semver
package provides the ability to work with Semantic Versions in Go. Specifically it provides the ability to:
- Parse semantic versions
- Sort semantic versions
- Check if a semantic version fits within a set of constraints
- Optionally work with a
v
prefix
Parsing Semantic Versions
To parse a semantic version use the NewVersion
function. For example,
v, err := semver.NewVersion("1.2.3-beta.1+build345")
If there is an error the version wasn't parseable. The version object has methods to get the parts of the version, compare it to other versions, convert the version back into a string, and get the original string. For more details please see the documentation.
Sorting Semantic Versions
A set of versions can be sorted using the sort
package from the standard library. For example,
raw := []string{"1.2.3", "1.0", "1.3", "2", "0.4.2",}
vs := make([]*semver.Version, len(raw))
for i, r := range raw {
v, err := semver.NewVersion(r)
if err != nil {
t.Errorf("Error parsing version: %s", err)
}
vs[i] = v
}
sort.Sort(semver.Collection(vs))
Checking Version Constraints
Checking a version against version constraints is one of the most featureful parts of the package.
c, err := semver.NewConstraint(">= 1.2.3")
if err != nil {
// Handle constraint not being parseable.
}
v, _ := semver.NewVersion("1.3")
if err != nil {
// Handle version not being parseable.
}
// Check if the version meets the constraints. The a variable will be true.
a := c.Check(v)
Basic Comparisons
There are two elements to the comparisons. First, a comparison string is a list
of comma separated and comparisons. These are then separated by || separated or
comparisons. For example, ">= 1.2, < 3.0.0 || >= 4.2.3"
is looking for a
comparison that's greater than or equal to 1.2 and less than 3.0.0 or is
greater than or equal to 4.2.3.
The basic comparisons are:
=
: equal (aliased to no operator)!=
: not equal>
: greater than<
: less than>=
: greater than or equal to<=
: less than or equal to
Note, according to the Semantic Version specification pre-releases may not be API compliant with their release counterpart. It says,
A pre-release version indicates that the version is unstable and might not satisfy the intended compatibility requirements as denoted by its associated normal version.
SemVer comparisons without a pre-release value will skip pre-release versions.
For example, >1.2.3
will skip pre-releases when looking at a list of values
while >1.2.3-alpha.1
will evaluate pre-releases.
Hyphen Range Comparisons
There are multiple methods to handle ranges and the first is hyphens ranges. These look like:
1.2 - 1.4.5
which is equivalent to>= 1.2, <= 1.4.5
2.3.4 - 4.5
which is equivalent to>= 2.3.4, <= 4.5
Wildcards In Comparisons
The x
, X
, and *
characters can be used as a wildcard character. This works
for all comparison operators. When used on the =
operator it falls
back to the pack level comparison (see tilde below). For example,
1.2.x
is equivalent to>= 1.2.0, < 1.3.0
>= 1.2.x
is equivalent to>= 1.2.0
<= 2.x
is equivalent to<= 3
*
is equivalent to>= 0.0.0
Tilde Range Comparisons (Patch)
The tilde (~
) comparison operator is for patch level ranges when a minor
version is specified and major level changes when the minor number is missing.
For example,
~1.2.3
is equivalent to>= 1.2.3, < 1.3.0
~1
is equivalent to>= 1, < 2
~2.3
is equivalent to>= 2.3, < 2.4
~1.2.x
is equivalent to>= 1.2.0, < 1.3.0
~1.x
is equivalent to>= 1, < 2
Caret Range Comparisons (Major)
The caret (^
) comparison operator is for major level changes. This is useful
when comparisons of API versions as a major change is API breaking. For example,
^1.2.3
is equivalent to>= 1.2.3, < 2.0.0
^1.2.x
is equivalent to>= 1.2.0, < 2.0.0
^2.3
is equivalent to>= 2.3, < 3
^2.x
is equivalent to>= 2.0.0, < 3
Validation
In addition to testing a version against a constraint, a version can be validated against a constraint. When validation fails a slice of errors containing why a version didn't meet the constraint is returned. For example,
c, err := semver.NewConstraint("<= 1.2.3, >= 1.4")
if err != nil {
// Handle constraint not being parseable.
}
v, _ := semver.NewVersion("1.3")
if err != nil {
// Handle version not being parseable.
}
// Validate a version against a constraint.
a, msgs := c.Validate(v)
// a is false
for _, m := range msgs {
fmt.Println(m)
// Loops over the errors which would read
// "1.3 is greater than 1.2.3"
// "1.3 is less than 1.4"
}
Contribute
If you find an issue or want to contribute please file an issue or create a pull request.