pub upgrade --major-version breaks sdk constraints

[bsutton]

OS linux
OS version Linux 5.15.0-40-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 15 12:54:21 UTC 2022
dart version 2.17.5

I have a project pub_release that has the following pubspec.yaml:

name: pub_release
version: 7.3.3
homepage: https://github.com/bsutton/pub_release
documentation: https://pubrelease.noojee.dev/
description: Automates the release of a dart package to pub.dev including running dartfmt, creating a git tag, incrementing the packages version no. and pushing the package to pub.dev.
environment: 
  sdk: '>=2.12.0 <3.0.0'
dependencies: 
  dcli: 1.20.1
  github: ^8.0.1
  meta: ^1.3.0
  mime: ^1.0.0
  pub_semver: ^2.1.0
  pubspec: ^2.3.0
  settings_yaml: ^3.0.6
dev_dependencies: 
  dependency_validator: ^3.0.0
  lint_hard: ^1.0.0
  test: ^1.16.2
executables: 
  pub_release: 
  github_release: 
  github_workflow_release: 
platforms: 
  linux: 
  windows: 
  macos: 

Note: the sdk constraint of >=2.12.0

I would assume that this means that pub_release will run on sdk 2.12.

I now run dart pub upgrade --major-versions with the resulting pubspec.yaml:

name: pub_release
version: 7.3.3
homepage: https://github.com/bsutton/pub_release
documentation: https://pubrelease.noojee.dev/
description: Automates the release of a dart package to pub.dev including running dartfmt, creating a git tag, incrementing the packages version no. and pushing the package to pub.dev.
environment: 
  sdk: '>=2.12.0 <3.0.0'
dependencies: 
  dcli: ^1.31.2
  github: ^9.4.0
  meta: ^1.3.0
  mime: ^1.0.0
  pub_semver: ^2.1.0
  pubspec: ^2.3.0
  settings_yaml: ^3.0.6
dev_dependencies: 
  dependency_validator: ^3.0.0
  lint_hard: ^2.0.0
  test: ^1.16.2
executables: 
  pub_release: 
  github_release: 
  github_workflow_release: 
platforms: 
  linux: 
  windows: 
  macos: 

Note the change of the dcli dependency from 1.20.1 to 1.31.2.

The pubspec.yaml for dcli 1.31.2 is:

name: dcli
version: 1.31.2
homepage: https://dcli.onepub.dev
documentation: https://dcli.onepub.dev
description: Dart console SDK - write console (cli) apps/scripts using dart.
repository: https://github.com/onepub-dev/dcli
environment: 
  sdk: '>=2.16.0 <3.0.0'
dependencies: 
  archive: ^3.0.0
  args: ^2.0.0
  async: ^2.5.0
  chunked_stream: ^1.4.1
...

Note that dcli has an sdk constraint of sdk: '>=2.16.0 <3.0.0'.

I would assume this means that dcli requires at least 2.16 to operate correctly.

As such it would appear that the pub upgrade command has incorrectly upgraded the pub_release package to use a version of dcli that breaks pub_release's sdk constraints.

I would have expect the the dcli dependency to remain at 1.20.1 as this is the last version that supported sdk 2.12.0

[sigurdm]

Yeah - this is a bit confusing.

The sdk constraint tells what sdk the code in the given package requires (and the lower bound also signifies the language version for that package) - all dependencies don't have to respect the same ranges.

This just mean that pub from a 2.12 sdk will never resolve a pub_release v7.3.3 (unless a new version of dcli is published that actually supports 2.12).

Closing as this is working as intended.