Bug 15967

Summary:	PREFERRED_VERSION does not necessarily select highest matching version.
Product:	[Build System, Metadata & Runtime] BitBake	Reporter:	Josef Holzmayr <jester>
Component:	bitbake	Assignee:	Unassigned <unassigned>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	minor
Priority:	Medium	CC:	ccasciato, poky.bs.watcher, poky.watcher, randy.macleod, ross.burton
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	5.99
Hardware:	All
OS:	Multiple
Whiteboard:
OS type for building Yocto:	---	Type of Regression:	---
Verified:		Documentation change:	No (bug/feature does not impact docs)

Description Josef Holzmayr 2025-09-09 09:22:51 UTC

Steps to reproduce:

Create three recipes with PV 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.1, like
- example_4.0.bb
- example_4.0.1.bb
- example_4.1.bb

Set PREFERRED_VERSION_example = "4.%" in local.conf

bitbake-getvar -r example PV yields 4.0.1.

The naive assumption is that if more than one version matches the wildcard, then the highest one is picked.

Comment 1 Randy MacLeod 2025-09-11 14:46:50 UTC

An oversight that can be reduced with a more specific glob pattern or a specific version.
Solving the problem in general may require being psychic.

- YP Bug review team.