bug: "ref:foo" regression in golang rewrite

[elijahr]

Describe the Bug

Greetings! I am the author of https://github.com/asdf-community/asdf-nim. I make regular use of the ref:foo tool identifier syntax to install nightly builds of certain git branches when available, or fallback to building from source when not available.

ref:foo seems to install ok, but asdf fails to find or use the installed version:

export ASDF_NIM_VERSION=ref:version-2-2
asdf install nim # works
asdf which nim # fails with `No nim executable found for nim`
asdf reshim
asf which nim # still fails with `No nim executable found for nim`

If I do this, it does show that the the version has been installed (with ":" replaced by "-"):

$ asdf list nim
  ref-version-2-2

So, the ref: identifier works okay for installation, but not for shims or calling which.

There is a hacky workaround, which is setting ASDF_NIM_VERSION=ref-version-2-2 after ref:version-2-2 has been installed.

Steps to Reproduce

Here is a minimal Dockerfile to reproduce:

FROM debian:bookworm-slim

ENV ASDF_DATA_DIR="/root/.asdf"
ENV PATH="${ASDF_DATA_DIR}/shims:/root/.nimble/bin:/usr/local/go/bin:$PATH"
# 2.2 nightly build
ENV ASDF_NIM_VERSION="ref:version-2-2"

# Install dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    curl \
    git \
    build-essential \
    libssl-dev \
    coreutils \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Install golang (req of asdf)
RUN curl -fsSL https://go.dev/dl/go1.24.0.linux-arm64.tar.gz | tar -C /usr/local -xz

# Install asdf, asdf-nim, and nim
RUN git clone https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf.git --depth 1 --branch v0.16.4 && \
    cd asdf && \
    make && \
    ln -s ${PWD}/asdf /usr/local/bin/asdf && \
    asdf plugin add nim && \
    asdf install && \
    asdf reshim

# Fails with:
# No executable nim found for current version. Please select a different version or install nim manually for the current version
RUN nim -v

Expected Behaviour

asdf should find and execute nim using ref:version-2-2 in ASDF_NIM_VERSION or a .tool-versions file.

Actual Behaviour

asdf cannot execute nim when the tool version is ref:version-2-2.

Environment

# asdf info
OS:
Linux f59c3c778768 6.12.5-linuxkit #1 SMP Tue Jan 21 10:23:32 UTC 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

SHELL:
GNU bash, version 5.2.15(1)-release (aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

BASH VERSION:
5.2.15(1)-release

ASDF VERSION:
"4b9297b-dev"

ASDF INTERNAL VARIABLES:
ASDF_DEFAULT_TOOL_VERSIONS_FILENAME=.tool-versions
ASDF_DATA_DIR=/root/.asdf
ASDF_CONFIG_FILE=/root/.asdfrc

ASDF INSTALLED PLUGINS:
nim       https://github.com/asdf-community/asdf-nim.git d35061b74828466fb3c204d76de57b94a02d2176

asdf plugins affected (if relevant)

asdf-nim

[Morgahl]

I have been having the same issue but as it relates to ref builds for erlang and elixir. I have prepared a PR that ostensibly resolves this issue #2049.