Conda update flips between two versions of the same package from the same channel

[sam-s]

Checklist

• I added a descriptive title
• I searched open reports and couldn't find a duplicate

What happened?

With both channel_priority: flexible and channel_priority: strict,
every conda update -n base --all flips between

The following packages will be UPDATED:

  libarchive                               3.7.2-h313118b_1 --> 3.7.4-haf234dc_0
  zstd                                     1.5.5-h12be248_0 --> 1.5.6-h0ea2cb4_0

The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:

  zstandard                          0.22.0-py311he5d195f_0 --> 0.19.0-py311ha68e1ae_0

and

The following packages will be UPDATED:

  zstandard                          0.19.0-py311ha68e1ae_0 --> 0.22.0-py311he5d195f_0

The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:

  libarchive                               3.7.4-haf234dc_0 --> 3.7.2-h313118b_1
  zstd                                     1.5.6-h0ea2cb4_0 --> 1.5.5-h12be248_0

and the corresponding conda list -n base --show-channel-urls are

libarchive                3.7.2                h313118b_1    XXX
zstandard                 0.22.0          py311he5d195f_0    XXX
zstd                      1.5.5                h12be248_0    XXX

and

libarchive                3.7.4                haf234dc_0    XXX
zstandard                 0.19.0          py311ha68e1ae_0    XXX
zstd                      1.5.6                h0ea2cb4_0    XXX

where XXX is the exact same (internal/corp) channel (which I do not cotrol).

My original report.

Conda Info

active environment : base
    active env location : C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\miniconda3
            shell level : 1
       user config file : C:\Users\ssteingold\.condarc
 populated config files : C:\Users\ssteingold\.condarc
          conda version : 24.5.0
    conda-build version : not installed
         python version : 3.11.6.final.0
                 solver : libmamba (default)
       virtual packages : __archspec=1=cascadelake
                          __conda=24.5.0=0
                          __cuda=11.4=0
                          __win=0=0
       base environment : C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\miniconda3  (writable)
      conda av data dir : C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\miniconda3\etc\conda
  conda av metadata url : None
           channel URLs : https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/bb-conda/win-64
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/bb-conda/noarch
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge/win-64
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge/noarch
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/bb-bqnt/conda-repo/win-64
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/bb-bqnt/conda-repo/noarch
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/bqnt-conda-dev/win-64
                          https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/bqnt-conda-dev/noarch
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/win-64
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/noarch
          package cache : C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\miniconda3\pkgs
                          C:\Users\ssteingold\.conda\pkgs
                          C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
       envs directories : C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\miniconda3\envs
                          C:\Users\ssteingold\.conda\envs
                          C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
               platform : win-64
             user-agent : conda/24.5.0 requests/2.32.2 CPython/3.11.6 Windows/10 Windows/10
.0.19045 solver/libmamba conda-libmamba-solver/24.1.0 libmambapy/1.5.8
          administrator : False
             netrc file : None
           offline mode : False

Conda Config

==> C:\Users\ssteingold\.condarc <==
ssl_verify: False
channel_priority: flexible
channels:
  - https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/bb-conda
  - https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
  - https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/bb-bqnt/conda-repo
  - https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/bqnt-conda-dev
  - conda-forge
  - defaults
report_errors: False

Conda list

# packages in environment at C:\Users\ssteingold\AppData\Local\miniconda3:
#
# Name                    Version                   Build  Channel
archspec                  0.2.3              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
boltons                   24.0.0             pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
brotli-python             1.1.0           py311h12c1d0e_1    conda-forge
bzip2                     1.0.8                hcfcfb64_5    conda-forge
ca-certificates           2024.3.11            haa95532_0    defaults
certifi                   2024.2.2           pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
cffi                      1.16.0          py311ha68e1ae_0    conda-forge
charset-normalizer        3.3.2              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
colorama                  0.4.6              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
conda                     24.5.0          py311h1ea47a8_0    conda-forge
conda-content-trust       0.2.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
conda-libmamba-solver     24.1.0             pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
conda-pack                0.7.1              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
conda-package-handling    2.2.0              pyh38be061_0    conda-forge
conda-package-streaming   0.9.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
console_shortcut_miniconda 0.1.1                haa95532_1    defaults
cryptography              42.0.7          py311hfd75b31_0    conda-forge
distro                    1.9.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
fmt                       10.2.1               h181d51b_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
frozendict                2.4.4           py311he736701_0    conda-forge
idna                      3.7                pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
jsonpatch                 1.33               pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
jsonpointer               2.4             py311h1ea47a8_3    conda-forge
krb5                      1.21.2               heb0366b_0    conda-forge
libarchive                3.7.4                haf234dc_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
libcurl                   8.8.0                hd5e4a3a_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
libexpat                  2.6.2                h63175ca_0    conda-forge
libffi                    3.4.4                hd77b12b_1    defaults
libiconv                  1.17                 hcfcfb64_2    conda-forge
libmamba                  1.5.8                h3f09ed1_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
libmambapy                1.5.8           py311h0317a69_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
libsolv                   0.7.29               h0ea2cb4_0    conda-forge
libsqlite                 3.45.3               hcfcfb64_0    conda-forge
libssh2                   1.11.0               h7dfc565_0    conda-forge
libxml2                   2.12.7               h283a6d9_0    conda-forge
libzlib                   1.2.13               hcfcfb64_5    conda-forge
lz4-c                     1.9.4                hcfcfb64_0    conda-forge
lzo                       2.10              hcfcfb64_1001    conda-forge
menuinst                  2.1.0           py311hda3d55a_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
openssl                   3.3.0                h2466b09_3    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
packaging                 24.0               pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
pcre2                     10.43                h17e33f8_0    conda-forge
pip                       24.0               pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
platformdirs              4.2.2              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
pluggy                    1.5.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
powershell_shortcut_miniconda 0.0.1                haa95532_1    defaults
pybind11-abi              4                    hd8ed1ab_3    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
pycosat                   0.6.6           py311ha68e1ae_0    conda-forge
pycparser                 2.22               pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
pyopenssl                 24.0.0             pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
pysocks                   1.7.1              pyh0701188_6    conda-forge
python                    3.11.6          h2628c8c_0_cpython    conda-forge
python_abi                3.11                    4_cp311    conda-forge
reproc                    14.2.4.post0         hcfcfb64_1    conda-forge
reproc-cpp                14.2.4.post0         h63175ca_1    conda-forge
requests                  2.32.2             pyhd8ed1ab_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
ruamel.yaml               0.18.6          py311ha68e1ae_0    conda-forge
ruamel.yaml.clib          0.2.8           py311ha68e1ae_0    conda-forge
setuptools                70.0.0             pyhd8ed1ab_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
sqlite                    3.45.3               hcfcfb64_0    conda-forge
tk                        8.6.14               h0416ee5_0    defaults
tqdm                      4.66.4             pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
truststore                0.8.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
tzdata                    2024a                h0c530f3_0    conda-forge
ucrt                      10.0.22621.0         h57928b3_0    conda-forge
urllib3                   2.2.1              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
vc                        14.3                ha32ba9b_20    conda-forge
vc14_runtime              14.38.33135         h835141b_20    conda-forge
vs2015_runtime            14.38.33135         h22015db_20    conda-forge
wheel                     0.43.0             pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
win_inet_pton             1.1.0              pyhd8ed1ab_6    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
xz                        5.4.6                h8cc25b3_1    defaults
yaml-cpp                  0.8.0                h63175ca_0    conda-forge
zlib                      1.2.13               hcfcfb64_5    conda-forge
zstandard                 0.19.0          py311ha68e1ae_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge
zstd                      1.5.6                h0ea2cb4_0    https://artprod.dev.bloomberg.com/artifactory/api/conda/conda-forge

Additional Context

No response

[travishathaway]

Hi @sam-s,

Thanks for linking to the SO question. I read through it and noticed that setting channel_priority to flexible solved your issue? Is that still the case?

Otherwise, rather than trying to force everything in your base environment to be at its latest version, I would recommend creating a separate named environment to use packages at their latest version. The base environment should really only hold the conda installation and its dependencies. For project specific work, we always recommend creating separate named environments for this purpose.

You can find more information about managing conda environments in our documentation:

• https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/stable/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html

Let us know if you have any further questions.

[sam-s]

Hi @travishathaway ,

Thanks for linking to the SO question. I read through it and noticed that setting channel_priority to flexible solved your issue? Is that still the case?

Absolutely not.
You are thinking about the 1st SO question which I initially linked by mistake; it is irrelevant. The SO link is now fixed.

Both the linked SO and this issue clearly state

With both channel_priority: flexible and channel_priority: strict, ...

---

Otherwise, rather than trying to force everything in your base environment to be at its latest version,

I am not.

I have an environment in which I work which is not relevant to the question, and I have the base.

---

The base environment should really only hold the conda installation and its dependencies.

I never installed anything myself in base.

---

Let us know if you have any further questions.

This is the question I have:

Why does conda update flip between two versions of the same package from the same channel?

[Mishail]

I'm observing a similar flipping behavior for these packages, I'm using conda-forge though, and I'm not setting channel_priority.

❯ conda update --all
Channels:
 - conda-forge
 - defaults
Platform: osx-arm64
Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): done
Solving environment: done

## Package Plan ##

  environment location: /opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniconda/base


The following packages will be downloaded:

    package                    |            build
    ---------------------------|-----------------
    libarchive-3.7.2           |       hcacb583_1         765 KB  conda-forge
    libcurl-8.7.1              |       h2d989ff_0         350 KB  conda-forge
    zstandard-0.22.0           |  py311h67b91a1_0         324 KB  conda-forge
    zstd-1.5.5                 |       h4f39d0f_0         391 KB  conda-forge
    ------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Total:         1.8 MB

The following packages will be UPDATED:

  zstandard                          0.19.0-py311he2be06e_0 --> 0.22.0-py311h67b91a1_0

The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:

  libarchive                               3.7.4-h83d404f_0 --> 3.7.2-hcacb583_1
  libcurl                                  8.8.0-h7b6f9a7_0 --> 8.7.1-h2d989ff_0
  zstd                                     1.5.6-hb46c0d2_0 --> 1.5.5-h4f39d0f_0

and then immediately:

❯ conda update --all
Channels:
 - conda-forge
 - defaults
Platform: osx-arm64
Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): done
Solving environment: done

## Package Plan ##

  environment location: /opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniconda/base


The following packages will be UPDATED:

  libarchive                               3.7.2-hcacb583_1 --> 3.7.4-h83d404f_0
  libcurl                                  8.7.1-h2d989ff_0 --> 8.8.0-h7b6f9a7_0
  zstd                                     1.5.5-h4f39d0f_0 --> 1.5.6-hb46c0d2_0

The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:

  zstandard                          0.22.0-py311h67b91a1_0 --> 0.19.0-py311he2be06e_0

[jaimergp]

Transferred over to conda/conda-libmamba-solver so we take another look. Thanks!

[github-actions]

Hi there, thank you for your contribution!

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed automatically if no further activity occurs.

If you would like this issue to remain open please:

1. Verify that you can still reproduce the issue at hand
2. Comment that the issue is still reproducible and include:
   - What OS and version you reproduced the issue on
   - What steps you followed to reproduce the issue

NOTE: If this issue was closed prematurely, please leave a comment.

Thanks!