[thisisshivamtiwari]

Fixes #934

minVersion checked 0.0.0 before 0.0.0-0 and returned it as soon as it matched. Since every prerelease of 0.0.0 sorts below 0.0.0, that shortcut returned the wrong answer whenever a 0.0.0 prerelease also matches:

semver.minVersion('>=0.0.0-alpha <1.0.0').version              // was '0.0.0', now '0.0.0-alpha'
semver.minVersion('>=0.0.0-0').version                          // was '0.0.0', now '0.0.0-0'
semver.minVersion('*', { includePrerelease: true }).version     // was '0.0.0', now '0.0.0-0'

Changes in ranges/min-version.js:

• Check 0.0.0-0 first, since it is the lowest possible version.
• If 0.0.0 matches, still run the normal lower-bound loop and return its result only when it matches and is below 0.0.0. Otherwise return 0.0.0 as before. This keeps every existing result: when the loop finds nothing lower, the answer is still 0.0.0.
• Skip ANY comparators in the loop. Before this change the loop never saw them, because any range containing * matched 0.0.0 and returned early.

Without includePrerelease, * and <2 still return 0.0.0, which matches the expectation in the issue thread.

Tests

• Added cases to test/ranges/min-version.js for 0.0.0 prerelease lower bounds (>=, >, in a union, and an impossible prerelease set next to <1 that must still fall back to 0.0.0), plus includePrerelease cases. The new cases fail on main and pass with this change.
• The test helper now prints the options object with JSON.stringify so the new includePrerelease cases have readable names.
• npm test (tap with 100% coverage, then eslint and template-oss-check) passes locally.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

Candidate validation occurs too late, allowing an impossible OR branch to mask a valid prerelease minimum and return an incorrect fallback.

1 open issue

• Validate OR-branch candidates before selecting the minimum · New

What changed in this PR

This PR addresses #934 by updating minVersion to consider matching prereleases below 0.0.0, rather than returning the stable version immediately.

Changes:

• Check 0.0.0-0 first and consider prerelease lower bounds before falling back to 0.0.0.
• Skip wildcard comparators during lower-bound calculation.
• Add prerelease and includePrerelease regression cases, with readable options in test names.

File	Description
test/​ranges/​min-version.js	Adds regression cases and improves test labels for options objects.
ranges/​min-version.js	Revises minimum-version selection and handles wildcard comparators.

_{Review effort: Balanced}

[nkolev92]

This now returns null for a range with a valid minimum:

const range = '>=1.0.1-0 <1.0.0 || >1.0.0 <1.0.1-alpha'
semver.minVersion(range) // null; previously 1.0.1-0
semver.satisfies('1.0.1-0', range) // true

The generated 1.0.1 candidate fails the upper bound, but 1.0.1-0 satisfies the second branch. Please preserve this minimum and add a regression test.

[thisisshivamtiwari]

Thanks, confirmed: this was a regression from my change (before it, this range gave 1.0.1-0). Fixed in 791b290. When a > bound's release fails its set, the first prerelease of that release (X.Y.Z-0) is now tried first, so 1.0.1-0 is kept. Regression tests added for the default, loose and includePrerelease options. Side effect: minVersion('>1.0.0', { includePrerelease: true }) now returns 1.0.1-0, the actual lowest match, and has a test. npm test passes with 100% coverage.

[nkolev92]

Valid long prerelease bounds can now return an invalid version or throw:

const range = '>0.0.0-' + 'a'.repeat(249)
const result = semver.minVersion(range)
semver.valid(result.version) // null: the result has 257 characters
semver.minVersion(range, { includePrerelease: true }) // throws

This input previously returned 0.0.0 without throwing. Please handle the version-length limit when generating the successor and add boundary tests for default, loose, and includePrerelease options.

[thisisshivamtiwari]

Thanks, confirmed: with a bound at the 256-character limit, the pushed .0 produced an over-length version, and with loose it also threw. Fixed in 791b290. The successor prerelease is generated only if it fits within MAX_LENGTH. Otherwise the release itself is used, as before this PR (>0.0.0-<249 a's> gives 0.0.0). Boundary tests cover lengths 255 and 256 under the default, loose and includePrerelease options.