what's the difference between "~18" and "18.*" when configuring BP_NODE_VERSION

[zhoufenqin]

I see some buildpack use ".*" to set the version, like set BP_GO_VERSION=1.19.*

In nodejs buildpack, set node version to 18, I can use BP_NODE_VERSION=18.* or BP_NODE_VERSION=~18, does it the same?

[robdimsdale]

@zhoufenqin generally yes. All of the buildpacks will parse valid semantic versions.

In addition, many (possibly all, I'm not sure) buildpacks use https://github.com/Masterminds/semver to parse and compare the versions. That library has broader support than the semver specification above. More details on what it supports can be found in the README of that library. In particular, the sections on - ranges, * comparisons, ~ ranges and ^ ranges are useful.