[BUG] npm update global not updating packages to latest

[johnkennedy9147]

Attempting to update all globally installed packages docs state should go to latest but this does not happen. Possibly updating as if applying semver ^ range.

npm outdated shows:

Package	Current	Wanted	Latest	Location
eslint	5.16.0	5.16.0	6.8.0	global
gatsby-cli	2.8.21	2.8.28	2.8.28	global
lighthouse	4.3.0	4.3.1	5.6.0	global
prettier	1.18.2	1.19.1	1.19.1	global
rimraf	2.6.3	2.7.1	3.0.1	global
yarn	1.15.2	1.21.1	1.21.1	global

ran npm update

npm outdated now shows

Package	Current	Wanted	Latest	Location
eslint	5.16.0	5.16.0	6.8.0	global
lighthouse	4.3.1	4.3.1	5.6.0	global

Expectation was that both would have been updated to latest.
eslint not updated.
lighthouse only updated to highest V4 version published (consistent with semver ^)

[ljharb]

They update to “wanted”, not “latest”. Global packages have an implicit ^ semver range, i believe.

[johnkennedy9147]

That appears to be the case but the docs state they should go to latest, so either docs need updated or this is a defect.

[johnkennedy9147]

verbose logging revealed that it is indeed deliberate

npm verb outdated not updating rimraf because it's currently at the maximum version that matches its specified semver range

and found the decision point in the code

cli/lib/update.js

Lines 42 to 48 in f533d61

	if (ww.current === ww.wanted && ww.wanted !== ww.latest) {
	log.verbose(
	'outdated',
	'not updating', ww.depname,
	"because it's currently at the maximum version that matches its specified semver range"
	)
	}

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.