# How does the package manager decide which packages to prioritize when updating?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-does-the-package-manager-decide-which-packages-to-prioritize-when-updating/136512>\
**Category:** Package Management\
**Created:** [April 1, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-does-the-package-manager-decide-which-packages-to-prioritize-when-updating/136512 "2026-04-01T20:04:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![johnb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/johnb/32/44115_2.png) [@johnb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/johnb)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-does-the-package-manager-decide-which-packages-to-prioritize-when-updating/136512/1 "2026-04-01T20:04:10Z")

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I noticed today that I was using two packages which conflicted such that only one could be fully updated at a time. If I ran `]up`, package A would be updated and package B was left not updated, but I had to manually add package B at the latest version to update it, which downgraded package A.

I couldn’t find information in the Pkg.jl docs about why one was prioritized over the other by `]up`, so I figured I’d ask here.

I am aware that I can pin packages or manually install specific versions and I don’t have any issues with how it works now; I’m just curious if it’s written somewhere how the prioritization process happens.

Thanks!