npm `wanted` vs `latest`

Question

I use npm to install some command line tools. Having the itch to always be up to date, I found the command npm -g outdated.

What is the dif

Answer 1

Considering your example, cordova@5.3.3 is marked as “wanted”, but “latest” is cordova@5.3.1 because npm uses dist-tags to manage its latest and next release channels.

npm update will install the newest version, but npm install cordova (with no semver range) will install whatever’s tagged as latest.

link to documentation