Alias Strategy

[kenodegard]

Type of feature request

• Enhancement to existing lockfile format support
• CLI/command enhancement

What is the idea?

Design and implement a strategy for handling format aliases when lockfile formats evolve to new versions. For example, when conda-lock.yml format evolves from v1 to v2, the conda-lock alias will most likely need to be updated to point to the new format.

Why is this needed?

Lockfile formats will inevitably evolve over time:

• conda-lock.yml v1 → v2 (future)
• pixi.lock v6 → v7 (future)
• New formats may be introduced
• Old formats may be deprecated

What should happen?

Decide on how generous we should be with aliases, should we:

1. Avoid generic aliases, user must specify the format version
2. Alias points to latest/stable version with future warnings so users know when the alias is about to change versions
3. ???

Related to lockfile format

• All formats