golang/go · error

invalid semantic version %q in range %q

Error message

invalid semantic version %q in range %q

What it means

Returned by newQueryMatcher via the badVersion closure when a range-style query (<=, <, >=, >) contains a version operand that fails gover.ModIsValid for the module path. The matcher refuses to interpret an invalid semver as a range bound.

Source

Thrown at src/cmd/go/internal/modload/query.go:430

	prefix             string
	filter             func(version string) bool
	allowed            AllowedFunc
	canStat            bool // if true, the query can be resolved by repo.Stat
	preferLower        bool // if true, choose the lowest matching version
	mayUseLatest       bool
	preferIncompatible bool
}

var errRevQuery = errors.New("query refers to a non-semver revision")

// newQueryMatcher returns a new queryMatcher that matches the versions
// specified by the given query on the module with the given path.
//
// If the query can only be resolved by statting a non-SemVer revision,
// newQueryMatcher returns errRevQuery.
func newQueryMatcher(path string, query, current string, allowed AllowedFunc) (*queryMatcher, error) {
	badVersion := func(v string) (*queryMatcher, error) {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid semantic version %q in range %q", v, query)
	}

	matchesMajor := func(v string) bool {
		_, pathMajor, ok := module.SplitPathVersion(path)
		if !ok {
			return false
		}
		return module.CheckPathMajor(v, pathMajor) == nil
	}

	qm := &queryMatcher{
		path:               path,
		allowed:            allowed,
		preferIncompatible: strings.HasSuffix(current, "+incompatible"),
	}

	switch {
	case query == "latest":

View on GitHub (pinned to b6b368adc5)

Solutions

1. Correct the bound to a canonical semver: vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g. '<=v1.5.0', '<v2.0.0').
2. Validate the version string with semver.IsValid before constructing the query.
3. Use a plain '@<version>' or '@latest' instead of a range if you only need one version.

Example fix

// before
$ go get example.com/pkg@<=1.5
// error: invalid semantic version "1.5" in range "<=1.5"

// after
$ go get example.com/pkg@<=v1.5.0

// Validate a range bound before constructing the query:
//   if !gover.ModIsValid(path, bound) {
//       return fmt.Errorf("invalid version bound %q", bound)
//   }

func isValidRangeBound(path, v string) bool {
    return gover.ModIsValid(path, v)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Issuing a version-range query like 'go get example.com/pkg@<=foo' or '@<v1.x' where the bound is not a valid semantic version for the module path.

Common situations: Typos in a version range passed to 'go get'/'go list -m -versions'; scripting that interpolates an unvalidated string into a range query; mixing branch names into semver range bounds.

Related errors

• invalid previous version %v@%v
• can't query specific version (%q) of standard-library module
• ambiguous semantic version %q in range %q
• revision is longer than canonical (expected %s)
• revision is shorter than canonical (expected %s)

AI-assisted analysis of golang/go@b6b368adc5 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/834c9e5276687ed7. Report an issue: GitHub.