validateLoadBalance crashes with TypeError when ember-cli version uses pnpm catalog syntax

[wagenet]

When a project uses pnpm catalogs, ember-cli in package.json may have a value like "catalog:tools" rather than a semver string. validateLoadBalance reads this value directly and passes it to semver.validRange(), which returns null for non-semver strings. The subsequent semver.gtr('3.2.0', null) call then throws:

TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'trim')
    at new Range (semver/classes/range.js:36:22)
    at outside (semver/ranges/outside.js:15:11)
    at Object.gtr (semver/ranges/gtr.js:5:42)
    at TestsOptionsValidator.validateLoadBalance (ember-exam/lib/utils/tests-options-validator.js:296:16)

Root cause (commands/exam.js:112):

this.emberCliVersion =
  this.project.pkg.devDependencies['ember-cli'] ||
  this.project.pkg.dependencies['ember-cli'];

This gives "catalog:tools" instead of a resolved version.

Suggested fix: Guard against non-semver strings before calling semver.validRange:

const rawVersion = this.project.pkg.devDependencies['ember-cli'] ||
  this.project.pkg.dependencies['ember-cli'];
// Catalog refs (e.g. "catalog:tools") are not semver — skip the check
this.emberCliVersion = semver.validRange(rawVersion) ? rawVersion : null;

Then in validateLoadBalance, treat a null version as "unknown / assumed sufficient" and skip the check rather than crashing. (The version being checked is 3.2.0 — any modern ember-cli satisfies this unconditionally.)

Workaround: Keep ember-cli pinned with an explicit version string in package.json rather than using a catalog ref.

ember-exam version: 10.1.0

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Issue written by Claude (claude-sonnet-4-6), approved by Peter Wagenet.