# Impenetrable error message
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554
**Category:** General Usage
**Tags:** package
**Created:** [May 5, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554 "2022-05-05T17:39:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/1 "2022-05-05T17:39:41Z")
I would not be surprised if novices were stumped. I certainly am:
```julia
(JuliaTutorial) pkg> add FinEtoolsHeatDiff
Resolving package versions...
ERROR: Unsatisfiable requirements detected for package FinEtoolsHeatDiff [972d1c22]:
FinEtoolsHeatDiff [972d1c22] log:
├─possible versions are: 0.4.0-1.0.2 or uninstalled
├─restricted to versions * by an explicit requirement, leaving only versions 0.4.0-1.0.2
└─restricted by julia compatibility requirements to versions: uninstalled — no versions left
(JuliaTutorial) pkg>
```
What I find particularly puzzling is `restricted to versions * by an explicit requirement`.
Doesn’t this mean that the version can be anything (`*`)?
How does one debug something like this? It happens to me from time to time, and I can usually get this to work by some fiddling with the projects or the julia depot, but there may be a systematic way that I don’t know about.
---
### Author:  [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 6:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/2 "2022-05-05T18:36:24Z")
Which julia version are you running this on?
---
### Author:  [@Sukera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Sukera)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/3 "2022-05-05T18:40:57Z")
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> `restricted to versions * by an explicit requirement, leaving only versions 0.4.0-1.0.2`
I agree - this should really read something like
> Not restricted by an explicit version requirement for this package.
or
> No explicit requirement, all versions of the package possible.
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> `restricted by julia compatibility requirements to versions: uninstalled — no versions left`
That part really just means that the current julia version is incompatible with the versions this package works with… Not sure how that can be formulated better?
---
### Author:  [@jar1](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jar1)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/4 "2022-05-05T18:45:46Z")
It could mention the julia compatibility requirements, [in this case](https://github.com/PetrKryslUCSD/FinEtoolsHeatDiff.jl/blob/master/Project.toml#L18) `julia = "~1.6"` and say `but Julia version is 1.7.1`.
---
### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/5 "2022-05-05T19:35:27Z")
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> restricted by julia compatibility requirements to versions: uninstalled — no versions left
The thing is this could mean that (a) the current julia is unhappy with the version of the package, or that (b) the package is unhappy with the version of the julia. So in this case I believe it should say “restricted by package requirements on julia version to versions: …”.
---
### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/6 "2022-05-05T19:38:41Z")
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> `restricted by julia compatibility requirements to versions`
I believe that is it: I run it on 1.7.2, the Project says “~1.6”. Staring at the error message for a while it dawned on me. But thanks!
---
### Author:  [@lmiq](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lmiq)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/7 "2022-05-05T19:56:01Z")
> [@Sukera](#):
>
> That part really just means that the current julia version is incompatible with the versions this package works with… Not sure how that can be formulated better?
Like you said would be much clearer, at least to me:
```julia
Current Julia version is incompatible with the Julia versions this package works with.
```
or
```julia
There isn't any version of this package compatible with the current Julia version.
```
(And Julia in capital case)
And I would add: “This may a compatibility requirement that can be lifted by the package developers. Reporting an issue is recommended.”
---
### Author:  [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/8 "2022-05-05T19:56:25Z")
Although it seems to me like 1.7 should work:
[https://pkgdocs.julialang.org/v1/compatibility/#Tilde-specifiers](https://pkgdocs.julialang.org/v1/compatibility/#Tilde-specifiers)
but maybe I’m misunderstanding what tilde means.
---
### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/9 "2022-05-05T19:58:00Z")
So, if the package is unhappy with the julia version here, how come that with Julia 1.7.2 I’m able to activate and instantiate _its_ environment, run tests, and there is no warning, much less an error.
```julia
julia> versioninfo()
Julia Version 1.7.2
Commit bf53498635 (2022-02-06 15:21 UTC)
Platform Info:
OS: Windows (x86_64-w64-mingw32)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz
WORD_SIZE: 64
LIBM: libopenlibm
LLVM: libLLVM-12.0.1 (ORCJIT, icelake-client)
Environment:
JULIA_DEPOT_PATH = C:/Users/pkonl/Sublime_Julia_portable/assets/.julia-1.7.2-depot
JULIA_SSL_CA_ROOTS_PATH =
julia> using Pkg; Pkg.activate("."); Pkg.instantiate();
Activating project at `C:\Users\pkonl\Documents\00WIP\FinEtoolsHeatDiff.jl`
shell> cat Project.toml
name = "FinEtoolsHeatDiff"
uuid = "972d1c22-8bdd-11e9-11cf-cdcb7577b041"
authors = ["Petr Krysl "]
version = "1.0.2"
[deps]
Arpack = "7d9fca2a-8960-54d3-9f78-7d1dccf2cb97"
FinEtools = "91bb5406-6c9a-523d-811d-0644c4229550"
LinearAlgebra = "37e2e46d-f89d-539d-b4ee-838fcccc9c8e"
Profile = "9abbd945-dff8-562f-b5e8-e1ebf5ef1b79"
SparseArrays = "2f01184e-e22b-5df5-ae63-d93ebab69eaf"
Statistics = "10745b16-79ce-11e8-11f9-7d13ad32a3b2"
Test = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"
[compat]
Arpack = "^0.5"
FinEtools = "^5"
julia = "~1.6"
shell>
```
---
### Author:  [@Sukera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Sukera)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/10 "2022-05-05T20:00:51Z")
> [@nilshg](#):
>
> Although it seems to me like 1.7 should work:
>
> [6. Compatibility · Pkg.jl](https://pkgdocs.julialang.org/v1/compatibility/#Tilde-specifiers)
>
> but maybe I’m misunderstanding what tilde means.
Why would it? `~1.6` means “any version 1.6.x between 1.6 and 1.7, excluding 1.7”. So it’s a right half open interval.
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> So, if the package is unhappy with the julia version here, how come that with Julia 1.7.2 I’m able to activate and instantiate _its_ environment, run tests, and there is no warning, much less an error.
Does it have a julia version in its Manifest.toml (if it has one)? A cursory look suggests it’s a 1.6 style Manifest, which I’m not sure forces julia version restrictions yet (though it should be able to read it…). You may want to do `Pkg.resolve()` or generate a new one by deleting it and re-instantiating.
---
### Author:  [@Henrique\_Becker](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Henrique_Becker)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/11 "2022-05-05T20:01:13Z")
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> The thing is this could mean that (a) the current julia is unhappy with the version of the package, or that (b) the package is unhappy with the version of the julia.
The option (a) is impossible if you take into account the design of Julia (and most languages with a builtin package manager). The language and its standard library cannot depend or be aware of other packages to be unhappy with them, it is only the packages that are aware of Julia version and can be unhappy about it.
---
### Author:  [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/12 "2022-05-05T20:02:24Z")
Ah right, skimmed over the brackets to quickly!
---
### Author:  [@heliosdrm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/heliosdrm)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/impenetrable-error-message/80554/13 "2022-05-05T20:14:44Z")
Ha! I stumbled into the same case just today, trying to add StatPlots.jl, and I remained really puzzled because even looking into the repository on Github I couldn’t find the source of incompatibility… until I realized that the repo had changed its name to Stat **s** Plots.jl three years ago, so the registry has entries for both the old (incompatible) `StatPlots`, and the current compatible `StatsPlots` !! 😅 (typing `StatPlots` in the Github URL didn’t fail, but silently redirected to the new repository name).