A Ruby library for parsing, comparing and sorting versions according to the VERS specification.
This gem provides tools for working with version ranges across different package managers, using a mathematical interval model internally and supporting the vers specification from the Package URL (PURL) project.
Available on RubyGems | API Documentation | GitHub Repository
Add this line to your application's Gemfile:
And then execute:
Or install it yourself as:
require 'vers'
# Parse a vers URI
range = Vers.parse("vers:npm/>=1.2.3|<2.0.0")
range.contains?("1.5.0") # => true
range.contains?("2.1.0") # => false
# Parse native package manager syntax
npm_range = Vers.parse_native("^1.2.3", "npm")
gem_range = Vers.parse_native("~> 1.0", "gem")
# Check version containment
Vers.satisfies?("1.5.0", ">=1.0.0,<2.0.0") # => true
# Compare versions
Vers.compare("1.2.3", "1.2.4") # => -1
# Version operations
version = Vers::Version.new("1.2.3")
version.increment_major # => #<Vers::Version "2.0.0">
version.satisfies?("~> 1.2") # => true Supported Package Managers
Many other package managers are also supported using standard comparison operators (>=, <=, <, >, =, !=), including Cargo (Rust), Go modules, and more.
Internally, all version ranges are represented as mathematical intervals, similar to those used in mathematics:
[1.0.0, 2.0.0) represents versions from 1.0.0 (inclusive) to 2.0.0 (exclusive)(1.0.0, 2.0.0] represents versions from 1.0.0 (exclusive) to 2.0.0 (inclusive)This allows for precise set operations like union, intersection, and complement, regardless of the original package manager syntax.
Basic Version Range Parsingrequire 'vers'
# Parse vers URI format
range = Vers.parse("vers:npm/>=1.2.3|<2.0.0")
puts range.contains?("1.5.0") # => true
puts range.contains?("2.1.0") # => false
# Parse native package manager syntax
npm_range = Vers.parse_native("^1.2.3", "npm")
gem_range = Vers.parse_native("~> 1.0", "gem")
pypi_range = Vers.parse_native(">=1.0,<2.0", "pypi")
maven_range = Vers.parse_native("[1.0,2.0)", "maven")
# Create exact version range
exact = Vers.exact("1.2.3")
puts exact.contains?("1.2.3") # => true
puts exact.contains?("1.2.4") # => false
# Create comparison ranges
greater = Vers.greater_than("1.0.0", inclusive: true)
less = Vers.less_than("2.0.0", inclusive: false)
# Create unbounded and empty ranges
all_versions = Vers.unbounded
no_versions = Vers.empty Converting Between Formats
# Parse native syntax and convert to vers URI
npm_range = Vers.parse_native("^1.2.3", "npm")
vers_string = Vers.to_vers_string(npm_range, "npm")
puts vers_string # => "vers:npm/>=1.2.3|<2.0.0"
# Parse vers URI and use in your application
range = Vers.parse("vers:gem/~>1.0")
puts range.contains?("1.5.0") # => true Set Operations on Version Ranges
range1 = Vers.parse("vers:npm/>=1.0.0|<2.0.0")
range2 = Vers.parse("vers:npm/>=1.5.0|<3.0.0")
# Union: versions in either range
union = range1.union(range2)
puts union.contains?("0.9.0") # => false
puts union.contains?("1.2.0") # => true
puts union.contains?("2.5.0") # => true
# Intersection: versions in both ranges
intersection = range1.intersect(range2)
puts intersection.contains?("1.2.0") # => false
puts intersection.contains?("1.7.0") # => true
puts intersection.contains?("2.5.0") # => false
# Complement: versions NOT in range
complement = range1.complement
puts complement.contains?("0.5.0") # => true
puts complement.contains?("1.5.0") # => false
# Exclusions: remove specific versions
excluded = range1.exclude("1.5.0")
puts excluded.contains?("1.4.0") # => true
puts excluded.contains?("1.5.0") # => false
puts excluded.contains?("1.6.0") # => true Version Comparison and Manipulation
version = Vers::Version.new("1.2.3-alpha.1+build.123")
# Access version components
puts version.major # => 1
puts version.minor # => 2
puts version.patch # => 3
puts version.prerelease # => "alpha.1"
puts version.build # => "build.123"
# Compare versions
puts Vers.compare("1.2.3", "1.2.4") # => -1
puts Vers.compare("2.0.0", "1.9.9") # => 1
puts Vers.compare("1.0.0", "1.0.0") # => 0
# Increment versions (returns new Version objects)
puts version.increment_major # => #<Vers::Version "2.0.0">
puts version.increment_minor # => #<Vers::Version "1.3.0">
puts version.increment_patch # => #<Vers::Version "1.2.4">
# Version properties
puts version.stable? # => false (has prerelease)
puts version.prerelease? # => true
puts version.to_h # => {major: 1, minor: 2, patch: 3, ...}
version = Vers::Version.new("1.2.5")
# Pessimistic constraint checking (Ruby-style)
puts version.satisfies?("~> 1.2") # => true (>= 1.2.0, < 1.3.0)
puts version.satisfies?("~> 1.2.3") # => true (>= 1.2.3, < 1.3.0)
puts version.satisfies?("~> 1.3") # => false
# General satisfaction checking
puts Vers.satisfies?("1.5.0", "vers:npm/>=1.0.0|<2.0.0") # => true
puts Vers.satisfies?("1.5.0", "^1.2.3", "npm") # => true
This gem implements the PURL Version Range Specification, providing a universal way to express version ranges across different software packaging ecosystems.
Learn more about the motivation and design behind VERS in the presentation from Open Source Summit NA 2025 (slides PDF) by Eve Martin-Jones and Elitsa Bankova. The following table from their talk shows how different package managers express the same version constraints:
Operator NPM Cargo Carthage RubyGems PyPI Maven NuGet behavior with no op 1.0.0 ^1.0.0⁴ illegal 1.0.0 illegal *⁵ >=1.0 = == =1.0 = == = == [1.0]⁵ [1.0]⁸ > > > > > (1.0,) (1.0,) >= >= >= >= >= >= 1.0⁵ 1.0⁷ᵇᵃ < < < < < (,1.0) (,1.0) <= <= <= <= <= (,1.0] (,1.0] != != != ^ ^ ^² ~ ~, ~>¹ ~ ~= ~> ¹ ~> ~> wildcards * x X * x X * * OR || , AND space , ,³ , RANGE - [,],(,)⁶ [,],(,)This complexity across ecosystems is exactly why VERS provides a universal format that works consistently across all package managers.
After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake test to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.
To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and the created tag, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.
Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/andrew/vers. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.
Everyone interacting in the Vers project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.
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