[PR #730] [CLOSED] Clarify language about higher/lower precedence #4214

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GiteaMirror · 2026-06-11T01:00:57-05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-06-11 01:00:57 -05:00

📋 Pull Request Information

Original PR: https://github.com/semver/semver/pull/730
Author: @dbplunkett
Created: 7/24/2021
Status: ❌ Closed

Base: master ← Head: patch-1

📝 Commits (1)

fb4d376 Clarify language about higher/lower precedence

📊 Changes

1 file changed (+9 additions, -9 deletions)

View changed files

📝 semver.md (+9 -9)

📄 Description

I don't think this requires an RFC, since I consider it a clarification of semantics rather than changing semantics, but please correct me if anybody thinks otherwise.

The document seems to conflate "higher precedence" and "lower precedence". The term "higher precedence" is roughly equivalent to the terms "precedes" or "ordered before". E.g. in the sentence, "When major, minor, and patch are equal, a pre-release version has lower precedence than a normal version", it should really say "higher precedence".

A source of confusion may be that, on the topic of determining the order of some string composed of elements, the word "precedence" can commonly refer to two closely related but opposite things: 1. The order in which elements should be compared, and 2. The way some given strings should be ordered as a result of that. E.g. when comparing elements, the pre-release identifier has lower precedence than the "normal" version numbers, but when ordering versions, one with a pre-release identifier has higher precedence than the same "normal" version alone. Which of those two concepts is being referred to is usually clear by context, but I think an exception is this sentence: "Pre-release versions have a lower precedence than the associated normal version." That is why, in addition to the higher<->lower change described above, I've also added clarifying language to this sentence.

Note that the clarifying language in that sentence would be obviated and future confusion about higher vs lower precedence avoided if the document used some other term, like "ordered before/after", instead of the term "higher/lower precedence", but that would be a larger change.

_{🔄 This issue represents a GitHub Pull Request. It cannot be merged through Gitea due to API limitations.}

## 📋 Pull Request Information **Original PR:** https://github.com/semver/semver/pull/730 **Author:** [@dbplunkett](https://github.com/dbplunkett) **Created:** 7/24/2021 **Status:** ❌ Closed **Base:** `master` ← **Head:** `patch-1` --- ### 📝 Commits (1) - [`fb4d376`](https://github.com/semver/semver/commit/fb4d37628576f34b2ac8403f64c753e5d2f27bb0) Clarify language about higher/lower precedence ### 📊 Changes **1 file changed** (+9 additions, -9 deletions) <details> <summary>View changed files</summary> 📝 `semver.md` (+9 -9) </details> ### 📄 Description I don't *think* this requires an RFC, since I consider it a clarification of semantics rather than changing semantics, but please correct me if anybody thinks otherwise. The document seems to conflate "higher precedence" and "lower precedence". The term "higher precedence" is roughly equivalent to the terms "precedes" or "ordered before". E.g. in the sentence, "When major, minor, and patch are equal, a pre-release version has lower precedence than a normal version", it should really say "higher precedence". A source of confusion may be that, on the topic of determining the order of some string composed of elements, the word "precedence" can commonly refer to two closely related but opposite things: 1. The order in which elements should be compared, and 2. The way some given strings should be ordered as a result of that. E.g. when comparing elements, the pre-release identifier has *lower precedence* than the "normal" version numbers, but when ordering versions, one with a pre-release identifier has *higher precedence* than the same "normal" version alone. Which of those two concepts is being referred to is usually clear by context, but I think an exception is this sentence: "Pre-release versions have a lower precedence than the associated normal version." That is why, in addition to the higher<->lower change described above, I've also added clarifying language to this sentence. Note that the clarifying language in that sentence would be obviated and future confusion about higher vs lower precedence avoided if the document used some other term, like "ordered before/after", instead of the term "higher/lower precedence", but that would be a larger change. --- <sub>🔄 This issue represents a GitHub Pull Request. It cannot be merged through Gitea due to API limitations.</sub>

GiteaMirror added the pull-request label 2026-06-11 01:00:57 -05:00

GiteaMirror closed this issue

2026-06-11 01:00:59 -05:00

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Reference: github-starred/semver#4214