The wrong Python version is tested when testing automatic updates

[robmoss2k]

Checklist

• I confirm there are no unresolved issues reported on the Chocolatey Status page.
• I have verified this is the correct repository for opening this issue.
• I have verified no other issues exist related to my problem.
• I have verified this is not an issue for a specific package.
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What You Are Seeing?

When testing automatic updates, streams are sorted lexicographically descending. This means that Python 3.9 is tested instead of Python 3.14. The same is most likely true of many packages.

What is Expected?

Python 3.14.0-a2 should be the recipient of the test install.

How Did You Get This To Happen?

1. I created a PR against chocolatey-packages.
2. AppVeyor shows Python 3.9 as the recipient of the test install.

System Details

• Operating System: Windows 11
• Windows PowerShell version: 7.4.6
• Chocolatey CLI Version: v2.4.1
• Chocolatey Licensed Extension version: N/A
• Chocolatey License type: Free
• Terminal/Emulator: Terminal

Installed Packages

I'm not sure, this is the hosted environment used for testing.

Output Log

https://ci.appveyor.com/project/chocolateycommunity/chocolatey-packages/builds/51144306

Additional Context

The problem is here. I'm not enough of a PowerShell guru to know how to test this, but I believe the fix is:

if ($res.Streams -is [HashTable]) { $streams = $streams | Sort-Object { [System.Version]::Parse($_) } -Descending }

[TheCakeIsNaOH]

When testing automatic updates, streams are sorted lexicographically descending. This means that Python 3.9 is tested instead of Python 3.14. The same is most likely true of many packages.

The names of steams are not necessarily versions, for example some packages have streams based on the release type (e.g "alpha", "beta" and "stable" steams).
https://github.com/TheCakeIsNaOH/chocolatey-packages/blob/master/looking-glass-host/update.ps1
https://github.com/chocolatey-community/chocolatey-packages/blob/master/automatic/libreoffice-streams/update.ps1

So it would not be appropriate to blindly try to parse the steam names as versions.

[robmoss2k]

So it would not be appropriate to blindly try to parse the steam names as versions.

This isn't blind parsing. It's Microsoft's implementation of semantic versioning.

[Thilas]

@TheCakeIsNaOH is right, it was implemented that way for this exact reason. If the streams order matters, then the update.ps1 script should pass an OrderedDictionary instead of a HashTable.

Note that you can use the Get-Version cmdlet provided by AU (see also the AUVersion type) to parse a semver 2 like version and sort them accordingly.

[robmoss2k]

Forgive me for asking the obvious question @Thilas @TheCakeIsNaOH - when is the version we test against not important? Doesn't the streams order always matter? What's the point in running a test when we update a package against an outdated version of the package that we already tested?

[Thilas]

I would rather agree on that, the streams order does always matter to me. But to avoid unnecessary breaking change at the time, it was decided to sort keys alphabetically when passing a HashTable and introduce the support for OrderedDictionary where we keep the original streams order.

My point is that you don't need to change chocolatey-au, you can fix the issue your are pointing out directly in the package, where you know best how to sort streams. That's what I do for all the packages I maintain.