Comprehensive Semantic Version (SemVer) parsing & utility script/function library/GitHub Action

sver is a cli tool, function library and GitHub Action implementing a Semantic Versioning 2 compliant parser, utilities and version constraint matching.

Written in optimized, portable, pure Bash (v3+) for simplicity & speed, sver is a single file that can also be used as a function library in Bash or Busybox Dash/Ash.

• get or bump version identifiers (major, minor, patch, prerelease, build_metadata)
• filter/min/max/sort lists of versions for valid versions with optional constraint matching
• output json/yaml objects with parsed version identifiers
• precedence comparisons (sort/equals/greater_than/less_than/min/max) strictly implement SemVer spec (unlike sort -V and most other utilities)
• version constraint evaluation using common constraint syntax with chaining (multiple constraints)
• Bash command line completion function & injector built in
• uses Bash primitives & builtins exclusively for speed & portability with minimal subshells (zero looped subshells)
• sort routine written with pure bash builtins and uses no subshells
• single small (< 20kB) script usable as a CLI or mixin Bash/Dash/Ash function library
• always formatted with shfmt
• always checked with shellcheck static analysis tool
• always unit tested with comprehensive test coverage
• compatible with Bash v3 for us poor macOS users

A simple and fast-running GitHub Action is included in the repo, which makes for an easy way to interact with Semantic Versions in your GitHub Action workflows.

Usage is simple, with the command input using the same syntax as the command line interface. The output output will contain the result, regardless of type (string, boolean, JSON, YAML).

- id: sver
  uses: robzr/sver@v1
  with:
    command: version

- if: steps.sver.outputs.output == 'v1.2.5'
  ...

Commands that return a boolean will return a boolean-as-string.

- id: sver
  uses: robzr/sver@v1
  with:
    command: constraint "${VERSION}" '~> v1.0, !pre'

- if: steps.sver.outputs.output == 'true'
  ...

For commands that take input on stdin, like filter, max, min, or sort, the input input can be specified.

- id: sver
  uses: robzr/sver@v1
  with:
    command: max
    input: |
      v1.0.1
      v2.2.2
      ...

- if: steps.sver.outputs.output == env.VERSION
  ...

The input-command input is also available, and will run the provided command, using the command's output as input for sver.

- uses: robzr/sver@v1
  with:
    command: max '< v1, !pre'
    input-command: git tag -l

sver is a self contained Bash script, so you can clone the repo and run it directly, or use one of the other convenient ways to install it.

The asdf-sver plugin enables version management for sver.

asdf plugin add sver
asdf install sver latest
asdf global sver latest

You can simply curl a version directly.

curl -LO https://github.com/robzr/sver/releases/download/v1.2.5/sver

The homebrew-sver tap is maintained which tracks the latest release.

brew tap robzr/sver
brew install sver

See sver help for documentation.

sver v1.2.5 (https://github.com/robzr/sver) self contained cli tool and function
library implementing a Semantic Versioning 2 compliant parser and utilities.
Written in optimized, portable, pure Bash (v3)+ for simplicity & speed.

Usage: sver <command> [<sub_command>] [<version>] [(<constraint>|<option>|<version>) ...]

Commands:
  bump major <version>
  bump minor <version>
  bump patch <version>
  complete -- Bash command completion, use: . /dev/stdin <<< "$(sver complete)"
  constraint <version> <constraint(s)> -- version constraint evaluation - if
                              version matches constraint(s) ? exit 0 : exit 1
  equals <version1> <version2> -- version1 == version2 ? exit 0 : exit 1
  filter [constraint] -- filters stdin list, returns only valid SemVers
  greater_than <version1> <version2> -- version1 > version2 ? exit 0 : exit 1
  get major <version>
  get minor <version>
  get patch <version>
  get prerelease <version>
  get build_metadata <version>
  help
  json <version> -- displays JSON map of components
  less_than <version1> <version2> -- version1 < version2 ? 0 : exit 1
  max [constraint] -- returns max value from stdin list
  min [constraint] -- returns min value from stdin list
  sort [-r] [constraint] -- sorts stdin list of SemVers (-r for reverse sort)
  validate <version> -- version is valid ? exit 0 : exit 1
  version
  yaml <version> -- displays YAML map of components

Versions:
  Semantic Versioning 2 (https://semver.org) compliant versions, with an
  optional "v" prefix tolerated on input.

Constraints:
  Multiple comma-delimited constraints can be chained together (boolean AND) to
  form a single constraint expression. Commands that take a list of versions on
  stdin and take a constraint will filter the input for versions matching the
  constraint expression. Version substrings can be used, and are especially
  useful with the pessimistic constraint operator. Supported operators:
    = <version_substring> -- equal (default if no operator specified)
    > <version_substring> -- greater than
    >= <version_substring> -- greater than or equal to
    < <version_substring> -- less than
    <= <version_substring> -- less than or equal to
    ~> <version_substring> -- pessimistic constraint operator - least significant
       (rightmost) identifier specified in the constraint matched with >=, but
       more significant (further left) identifiers must be equal
    !pre[release] -- does not contain a prerelease (ie: "stable")
    !bui[ild_metadata] -- does not contain build_metadata
  Examples: "~> v1.2, != 1.3", "> 1, <= v2.5, != v2.4.4", "v1, !pre"

Command completion is available for Bash users. Simply add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

. /dev/stdin <<< "$(sver complete)"

To use sver as a Bash function library, source it with the SVER_RUN=false variable set.

SVER_RUN=false . "$(command -v sver)"

As the CLI is simply a mapping to the function library, the commands and syntax are the same, with the functions naming pattern sver_<command>[_<subcommand>], ie: sver_version, sver_bump_major, etc. To avoid the use of subshells and redirection for returning string values, functions generally return values via the global REPLY variable. Note that this is a reuse of the default response variable used by Bash (and Dash) read.

The command line completion and CLI command-to-function mapping depends on the Bash builtin compgen, which is not available in Dash (commonly used as the default shell in Alpine Linux and other compact distributions that use Busybox). Therefore, as the script is written, it will not function in Dash. However, all of the core sver functions can be used, although the sort function differs from the Bash implementation by using a shell call to Busybox sort and does not fully sort prereleases according to SemVer spec. Every other function is identical. To use sver in Dash, the Bash specific syntax needs to first be stripped out, which can be done with the following command (even with Busybox):

sed -n '/# bash-only-begin/,/# bash-only-end/!p' sver > sver.dash
. sver.dash

Permissive Creative Commons - CC BY 3.0 license - same as Semantic Versioning itself.