# cmake find\_package(X \[version\]) always finds highest version of X if multiple versions installed
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750
**Category:** Usage
**Created:** [May 27, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750 "2022-05-27T21:03:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tomoreilly](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/tomoreilly)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/1 "2022-05-27T21:03:07Z")
I’m running cmake 3.23.0. I want to find\_library(VTK) based on version criteria. My ubuntu 20.04 system has two installed versions of VTK:
```auto
/usr/local/lib/cmake/vtk-8.2
/usr/local/lib/cmake/vtk-9.0
```
My project requires VTK version 8.x.x, i.e. need to exclude VTK 9.x.x - so CMakeLists.txt includes:
```auto
find_package(VTK "8...<9" REQUIRED)
```
But VTK\_VERSION found is 9.0.1 - why, given the constraint? Also tried
```auto
find_package(VTK "8.0...<9.0" REQUIRED)
find_package(VTK "8.0.0...<9.0.0" REQUIRED)
```
with the same result - VTK\_VERSION 9.0.1 is found. Tried without a version range, but still find\_package() returns VTK\_VERSION 9.0.1:
```auto
find_package(VTK "8" REQUIRED)
find_package(VTK “8.2” REQUIRED)
find_package(VTK “8.2.0” REQUIRED)
```
The only thing that actually returns VTK\_VERSION 8.2.0:
```auto
find_package(VTK “8.2.0” REQUIRED EXACT)
```
Is this behavior due to the fact that two VTK versions are installed on my system, and find\_packages() assumes just one is installed?
---
### Author:  [@marc.chevrier](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/marc.chevrier)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/2 "2022-05-27T21:25:50Z")
Version range is not supported by all modules. This probably explains why specifying a range seems ignored.
Moreover, without the `EXACT` keyword, the standard meaning, when a version is specified, is to search for the most recent version which is greater or equal to this version.
So what you describe is the expected behavior…
---
### Author:  [@tomoreilly](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/tomoreilly)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/3 "2022-05-27T21:34:59Z")
Thanks - so when I’m building a new project which needs third-party packages, I can’t count on version-range support? Makes the feature not-so-useful 😉 So how to determine whether it’s supported for a given package?
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/4 "2022-05-27T21:45:31Z")
You can’t in general. VTK could certainly be updated to handle this though. Could you please file [an issue](https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/-/issues)?
---
### Author:  [@tomoreilly](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/tomoreilly)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/5 "2022-05-27T21:48:02Z")
So @ben.boeckel from my description, it’s safe to say that version-range is either not implemented or is broken for at VTK-8.2 (rather than a cmake problem)? Sure I can file an issue!
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/6 "2022-05-27T23:09:37Z")
Well, 8.2 isn’t getting fixed (nor 9.1 for that matter), but future VTK versions can learn new tricks at least
---
### Author:  [@triddlelover69](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/triddlelover69)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2022, 7:12am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/7 "2022-05-28T07:12:38Z")
> [@ben.boeckel](#):
>
> VTK versions can learn new tricks at least
Yeah, that’s what I and many other users are expecting.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2022, 12:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-find-package-x-version-always-finds-highest-version-of-x-if-multiple-versions-installed/5750/8 "2022-05-30T12:43:26Z")
FWIW, VTK does have a `vtk-config-version.cmake` that should be doing this. Could you trace that code to see why it thinks `...8.2` is suitable for it?