Why `npm install` uses carats(^) instead of tildes(~) by default?

[ajhsu]

Reading material

http://fredkschott.com/post/2014/02/npm-no-longer-defaults-to-tildes/

TL; DR

Main reason

(Still figuring out)

Differences between tildes(~) and carats(^)

• ~1.2.3:
  • “Reasonably close to 1.2.3“
  • Matches 1.2.x but not 1.3.0.
  • Which means it fixed at PATCH number.
• ^1.2.3:
  • “Compatible with 1.2.3”
  • Matches 1.x.x but not 2.0.0.
  • Which means it fixed at MINOR number.
• Expection:
  • In version zero, carats(^) ^0.1.x only matches 0.1.x but not 0.x.x, which acts like tildes ~

Read more on npm documentation - semver

Spec of semver

Given a version number MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, increment the:

• MAJOR version when you make incompatible API changes,
• MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner
• PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.

Learning with npm semver calculartor

https://semver.npmjs.com/

You can try to give a version number like ^1.0.0 and the calculator will tells you the range of included version numbers.