Respect the configured default in the version selector

[j178]

Context

Some projects serve the latest release directly from unversioned URLs while also publishing versioned documentation with mike. For example, prek's documentation root serves the same documentation as the latest release and configures extra.version.default: latest.

Description

When the current URL does not match a version or alias in versions.json, the version selector should try the configured default version and its aliases before falling back to the first entry. Exact URL matches should remain higher priority. If no default is configured, latest should remain the implicit default.

Related links

• Versioning documentation
• Current version selector implementation
• Native versioning proposal
• Completed mike compatibility item
• Live example
• Version metadata

Use Cases

At the time of writing, the unversioned root at prek.j178.dev serves version 0.4.14, which has the latest alias. Because dev is the first entry in versions.json, the selector currently shows dev. With the proposed fallback, the root would show 0.4.14 (latest), while /dev/ and all versioned URLs would continue to use their exact URL matches.

This also lets other projects keep stable, unversioned documentation URLs without making the selector depend on the ordering of versions.json. Sites whose URLs already match a version are unchanged, and sites without a matching configured default retain the existing first-entry fallback.

Before submitting

• I have read and followed the change request guidelines.
• I have verified that my idea is a change request and not a bug report.
• I have ensured that, to the best of my knowledge, my idea will benefit the entire community.
• I have included relevant links to the documentation and related issues, to underline the need for my idea.

[squidfunk]

Thanks for reporting. Moving to UI repository.