# Registry: support resolving dependencies also when Versions.toml file is empty by using master

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/registry-support-resolving-dependencies-also-when-versions-toml-file-is-empty-by-using-master/33446>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [January 16, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/registry-support-resolving-dependencies-also-when-versions-toml-file-is-empty-by-using-master/33446 "2020-01-16T17:50:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![schlichtanders](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/schlichtanders/32/32145_2.png) [@schlichtanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/schlichtanders)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/registry-support-resolving-dependencies-also-when-versions-toml-file-is-empty-by-using-master/33446/5 "2020-01-21T11:27:41Z")

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thanks a lot. I was really sure this was because of a dependency, but then I probably haven’t looked detailed enough. (the dependency problem was the major problem I had before locally, because of [Automatically detect unregistered dependencies by 00vareladavid · Pull Request #1088 · JuliaLang/Pkg.jl · GitHub](https://github.com/JuliaLang/Pkg.jl/pull/1088). This topic here occured when wanting to jump between machines. Apparently this got me confused). I hope I find time soon to check this again on my system.

EDIT: I found the difference. I directly installed the package using `] dev` instead of `] add`. I tried it with your Staging area, and could successfully run `] dev JuAFEM` after adding the registry.

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Still I think it is very valuable to have this fallback feature in the Registry. Reasons:

- it simplifies the initial phase when developing new packages a lot

- it does not bind versions to branches (as disliked in [another discourse discussion](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/can-versions-toml-point-to-git-branch-instead-of-fixed-git-commit/33442)), but only has a fallback branch when no version is given

- with it the registry is the one central place where you can register all your packages in development

- when using a registry today for this purpose, you _artificially_ have to bind a git commit tree-hash to a thought-up version number, while there is in fact no stable version yet to use at this stage of development. This would no longer be needed, as the Versions.toml could stay empty

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_[View the full topic](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/registry-support-resolving-dependencies-also-when-versions-toml-file-is-empty-by-using-master/33446)._