Pkg.Apps.update not working?

[lmiq]

Consider this example:

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.rm("SovovaMulti") # just to be sure
[ Info: Deleting all apps for package SovovaMulti
[ Info: Deleted sovovamulti

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.add(name="SovovaMulti", version="1.1.0") #4334 
...
  [bea87d4a] + SuiteSparse_jll v7.8.3+2
  [83775a58] + Zlib_jll v1.3.1+2
  [8e850b90] + libblastrampoline_jll v5.15.0+0
[ Info: For package: SovovaMulti installed apps sovovamulti

# Now try to update the package:
julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.update("SovovaMulti")
    Updating registry at `~/.julia/registries/General.toml`
ERROR: could not find source path for package SovovaMulti based on manifest /home/leandro/.julia/environments/apps/SovovaMulti/Manifest.toml
Stacktrace:
  [1] pkgerror(msg::String)
    @ Pkg.Types ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Types.jl:68
  [2] fixups_from_projectfile!(ctx::Pkg.Types.Context)
    @ Pkg.Operations ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Operations.jl:272
  [3] up(ctx::Pkg.Types.Context, pkgs::Vector{…}, level::Pkg.Types.UpgradeLevel; skip_writing_project::Bool, preserve::Pkg.Types.PreserveLevel)
    @ Pkg.Operations ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Operations.jl:2001
  [4] up
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Operations.jl:1974 [inlined]
  [5] up(ctx::Pkg.Types.Context, pkgs::Vector{…}; level::Pkg.Types.UpgradeLevel, mode::Pkg.Types.PackageMode, preserve::Pkg.Types.PreserveLevel, update_registry::Bool, skip_writing_project::Bool, kwargs::@Kwargs{…})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/API.jl:436
  [6] up(pkgs::Vector{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec}; io::IOContext{IO}, kwargs::@Kwargs{})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/API.jl:169
  [7] up(pkgs::Vector{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/API.jl:158
  [8] up
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/API.jl:156 [inlined]
  [9] #update##0
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:310 [inlined]
 [10] activate(f::Pkg.Apps.var"#update##0#update##1"{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec}, new_project::String)
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/API.jl:1489
 [11] update(pkg::Pkg.Types.PackageSpec)
    @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:298
 [12] update
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:292 [inlined]
 [13] update(pkgs_or_apps::String)
    @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.12.5+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.12/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:286
 [14] top-level scope
    @ REPL[14]:1
Some type information was truncated. Use `show(err)` to see complete types.

This should work, right?

[KristofferC]

Yes, can you try on JuliaLang/julia#61154. I think it should be fixed there.

[lmiq]

I tried now in with

julia> versioninfo()
Julia Version 1.13.0-beta2
Commit f36fbbfd951 (2026-02-04 11:07 UTC)
Build Info:
  Official https://julialang.org release
Platform Info:
  OS: Linux (x86_64-linux-gnu)
  CPU: 32 × Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900KF
  WORD_SIZE: 64
  LLVM: libLLVM-20.1.8 (ORCJIT, raptorlake)
  GC: Built with stock GC
Threads: 1 default, 1 interactive, 1 GC (on 32 virtual cores)

and this is what I get:

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.update("SovovaMulti")
    Updating registry at `~/.julia/registries/General.toml`
ERROR: MethodError: Cannot `convert` an object of type Pkg.Versions.VersionSpec to an object of type VersionNumber
The function `convert` exists, but no method is defined for this combination of argument types.

Closest candidates are:
  convert(::Type{T}, ::T) where T
   @ Base Base_compiler.jl:136

Stacktrace:
  [1] convert(::Type{Union{Nothing, VersionNumber}}, x::Pkg.Versions.VersionSpec)
    @ Base ./some.jl:35
  [2] Pkg.Types.PackageEntry(name::String, version::Pkg.Versions.VersionSpec, path::Nothing, entryfile::Nothing, pinned::Bool, repo::Pkg.Types.GitRepo, tree_hash::Nothing, deps::Dict{…}, weakdeps::Dict{…}, exts::Dict{…}, uuid::Base.UUID, apps::Dict{…}, registries::Vector{…}, other::Nothing)
    @ Pkg.Types ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Types.jl:282
  [3] Pkg.Types.PackageEntry(; name::String, version::Pkg.Versions.VersionSpec, path::Nothing, entryfile::Nothing, pinned::Bool, repo::Pkg.Types.GitRepo, tree_hash::Nothing, deps::Dict{…}, weakdeps::Dict{…}, exts::Dict{…}, uuid::Base.UUID, apps::Dict{…}, registries::Vector{…}, other::Nothing)
    @ Pkg.Types ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Types.jl:281
  [4] kwcall(::@NamedTuple{…}, ::Type{…})
    @ Pkg.Types ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Types.jl:281
  [5] update_manifest!(env::Pkg.Types.EnvCache, pkgs::Vector{…}, deps_map::Dict{…}, julia_version::VersionNumber, registries::Vector{…})
    @ Pkg.Operations ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Operations.jl:347
  [6] up(ctx::Pkg.Types.Context, pkgs::Vector{…}, level::Pkg.Types.UpgradeLevel; skip_writing_project::Bool, preserve::Pkg.Types.PreserveLevel)
    @ Pkg.Operations ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Operations.jl:2436
  [7] up
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Operations.jl:2408 [inlined]
  [8] up(ctx::Pkg.Types.Context, pkgs::Vector{…}; level::Pkg.Types.UpgradeLevel, mode::Pkg.Types.PackageMode, preserve::Pkg.Types.PreserveLevel, update_registry::Bool, skip_writing_project::Bool, kwargs::@Kwargs{…})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/API.jl:465
  [9] kwcall(::@NamedTuple{io::IOContext{IO}}, ::typeof(Pkg.API.up), ctx::Pkg.Types.Context, pkgs::Vector{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/API.jl:433
 [10] up(pkgs::Vector{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec}; io::IOContext{IO}, kwargs::@Kwargs{})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/API.jl:172
 [11] up(pkgs::Vector{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec})
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/API.jl:161
 [12] up
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/API.jl:159 [inlined]
 [13] #update##0
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:299 [inlined]
 [14] activate(f::Pkg.Apps.var"#update##0#update##1"{Pkg.Types.PackageSpec}, new_project::String)
    @ Pkg.API ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/API.jl:1477
 [15] update(pkg::Pkg.Types.PackageSpec)
    @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:296
 [16] update
    @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:281 [inlined]
 [17] update(pkgs_or_apps::String)
    @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.13.0-beta2+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.13/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:275
 [18] top-level scope
    @ REPL[3]:1
Some type information was truncated. Use `show(err)` to see complete types.

julia> 

On nightly (1.14.0-DEV.1886) the update does nothing, and the second time I try it errors:

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.update("SovovaMulti")
    Updating registry at `~/.julia/registries/General.toml`
     Project No packages added to or removed from `~/.julia/environments/apps/SovovaMulti/Project.toml`
    Manifest No packages added to or removed from `~/.julia/environments/apps/SovovaMulti/Manifest.toml`

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.update("SovovaMulti")
    Updating registry at `~/.julia/registries/General.toml`
     Project No packages added to or removed from `~/.julia/environments/apps/SovovaMulti/Project.toml`
    Manifest No packages added to or removed from `~/.julia/environments/apps/SovovaMulti/Manifest.toml`
ERROR: Project file not found: /home/leandro/.julia/environments/apps/Project.toml
Stacktrace:
 [1] error(s::String)
   @ Base ./error.jl:56
 [2] get_project(sourcepath::String)
   @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/share/julia/stdlib/v1.14/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:63
 [3] update(pkg::Pkg.Types.PackageSpec)
   @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/share/julia/stdlib/v1.14/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:303
 [4] update
   @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/share/julia/stdlib/v1.14/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:283 [inlined]
 [5] update(pkgs_or_apps::String)
   @ Pkg.Apps ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/share/julia/stdlib/v1.14/Pkg/src/Apps/Apps.jl:277
 [6] top-level scope
   @ REPL[3]:1

In all cases the sequence of commands is:

import Pkg
Pkg.activate(temp=true) # probably irrelevant
Pkg.Apps.rm("SovovaMulti")
Pkg.Apps.add(name="SovovaMulti", version="1.1.0")
Pkg.Apps.update("SovovaMulti")

[lmiq]

Update on this issue. Update does not seem to be working:

Using nightly of today:

julia> versioninfo()
Julia Version 1.14.0-DEV.2212
Build Info:
  Official https://julialang.org release
  Commit 062a90bc8c2 (2026-05-19 09:45 UTC)
  GC: Built with stock GC
Platform Info:
  OS: Linux (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu)
  CPU: 32 × Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900KF (raptorlake)
  WORD_SIZE: 64
  LLVM: libLLVM-21.1.8 (ORCJIT, raptorlake)
Threads: 1 default, 1 interactive, 1 GC (on 32 virtual cores)

Install an outdated version of an App:

% julia +nightly --startup-file=no --project=@temp
               _
   _       _ _(_)_     |  Documentation: https://docs.julialang.org
  (_)     | (_) (_)    |
   _ _   _| |_  __ _   |  Type "?" for help, "]?" for Pkg help.
  | | | | | | |/ _` |  |
  | | |_| | | | (_| |  |  Version 1.14.0-DEV.2212 (2026-05-19)
 _/ |\__'_|_|_|\__'_|  |  Commit 062a90bc8c2 (2 days old master)
|__/                   |

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.add(name="Packmol", version="0.1.13") # not latest version
    Updating `~/.julia/environments/apps/Packmol/Project.toml`
⌅ [69e1c6dd] + CellListMap v0.9.17
  [e1fe445b] + NativeFileDialog v0.2.1
  [bac558e1] + OrderedCollections v1.8.1
...

  [8e850ede] + nghttp2_jll v1.69.0+0
  [3f19e933] + p7zip_jll v17.8.0+0
        Info Packages marked with ⌅ have new versions available but compatibility constraints restrict them from upgrading. To see why use `status --outdated -m`
Precompiling project...
Precompiling packages finished.
  81 dependencies successfully precompiled in 15 seconds. 30 already precompiled.
[ Info: For package: Packmol installed apps packmol

julia> Pkg.Apps.status(["Packmol"])
[6cdf86f9] Packmol v0.1.13
  packmol ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/bin/julia 

Version "0.1.13", as requested, was installed (it is not the latest version).

Trying to update in the same session:

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.update("Packmol")
    Updating registry at `~/.julia/registries/General.toml`
     Project No packages added to or removed from `~/.julia/environments/apps/Packmol/Project.toml`
    Manifest No packages added to or removed from `~/.julia/environments/apps/Packmol/Manifest.toml`

julia> Pkg.Apps.status(["Packmol"])
[6cdf86f9] Packmol v0.1.13 `~`
  packmol ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/bin/julia 

Nothing got updated.

Removing and reinstalling works:

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.rm("Packmol")
[ Info: Deleting all apps for package Packmol
[ Info: Deleted packmol

julia> import Pkg; Pkg.Apps.add(name="Packmol") # not latest version
    Updating `~/.julia/environments/apps/Packmol/Project.toml`
  [69e1c6dd] + CellListMap v0.10.2
  [e1fe445b] + NativeFileDialog v0.2.1
  [bac558e1] + OrderedCollections v1.8.1
...
  [8e850ede] + nghttp2_jll v1.69.0+0
  [3f19e933] + p7zip_jll v17.8.0+0
        Info Packages marked with ⌅ have new versions available but compatibility constraints restrict them from upgrading. To see why use `status --outdated -m`
Precompiling project...
Precompiling packages finished.
  2 dependencies successfully precompiled in 9 seconds. 109 already precompiled.
[ Info: For package: Packmol installed apps packmol

julia> Pkg.Apps.status(["Packmol"])
[6cdf86f9] Packmol v0.1.14
  packmol ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-nightly/bin/julia 

Now we got version 0.1.14, which is the latest one.