diff --git a/nim_lk.nimble b/nim_lk.nimble
index 2476729..5fdd024 100644
--- a/nim_lk.nimble
+++ b/nim_lk.nimble
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ bin = @["nim_lk"]
 description = "Tool for generating Nim lockfiles"
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
 srcDir = "src"
-version = "20231008"
+version = "20231009"
 
 requires "nim >= 2.0.0"
diff --git a/src/nim_lk.nim b/src/nim_lk.nim
index 2ab059d..bfb171d 100644
--- a/src/nim_lk.nim
+++ b/src/nim_lk.nim
@@ -28,14 +28,12 @@ func isGitUrl(uri: Uri): bool =
     uri.scheme.startsWith("git+")
 
 proc isWebGitForgeUrl(uri: Uri): bool =
-  result =
-    case uri.hostname
-    of "github.com", "git.sr.ht", "codeberg.org": true
-    else: false
-  if not result:
-    stderr.writeLine "not a web forge hostname: '", uri.hostname, "'"
+  case uri.hostname
+  of "github.com", "git.sr.ht", "codeberg.org": true
+  else: false
 
 proc startProcess(cmd: string; cmdArgs: varargs[string]): Process =
+  # stderr.writeLine(cmd, " ", join(cmdArgs, " "))
   startProcess(cmd, args = cmdArgs, options = {poUsePath})
 
 proc gitLsRemote(url: string; withTags: bool): seq[tuple[tag: string, rev: string]] =
@@ -45,35 +43,44 @@ proc gitLsRemote(url: string; withTags: bool): seq[tuple[tag: string, rev: strin
       startProcess("git", "ls-remote", "--tags", url)
     else:
       startProcess("git", "ls-remote", url)
-  while process.running:
-    while process.outputStream.readLine(line):
-      var off = 0
-      off.inc parseUntil(line, rev, Whitespace, off)
-      off.inc skipWhile(line, Whitespace, off)
-      refer = line[off..line.high]
-      const
-        refsTags = "refs/tags/"
-        headsTags = "refs/heads/"
-      if refer.startsWith(refsTags):
-        refer.removePrefix(refsTags)
-      elif refer.startsWith(headsTags):
-        refer.removePrefix(headsTags)
+  while process.outputStream.readLine(line):
+    var off = 0
+    off.inc parseUntil(line, rev, Whitespace, off)
+    off.inc skipWhile(line, Whitespace, off)
+    refer = line[off..line.high]
+    const
+      refsTags = "refs/tags/"
+      headsTags = "refs/heads/"
+    if refer.startsWith(refsTags):
+      refer.removePrefix(refsTags)
+      result.add((refer, rev,))
+    elif refer.startsWith(headsTags):
+      refer.removePrefix(headsTags)
       result.add((refer, rev,))
   stderr.write(process.errorStream.readAll)
   close(process)
+  if withTags and result.len == 0:
+    result = gitLsRemote(url, not withTags)
 
 proc matchRev(url: string; wanted: VersionRange): tuple[tag: string, rev: string] =
-  let withTags = wanted.kind != verAny
-  let pairs = gitLsRemote(url, withTags)
-  var resultVersion: Version
-  for (tag, rev) in pairs:
-    var tagVer = Version(tag)
-    if tagVer.withinRange(wanted) and resultVersion < tagVer:
-      resultVersion = tagVer
-      result = (tag, rev)
-  if result.rev == "" and pairs.len > 0:
-    result = pairs[pairs.high]
-  doAssert result.rev != ""
+  if wanted.kind == verSpecial:
+    let special = string(wanted.spe)
+    if special.len == 41 and special[0] == '#':
+      result[1] = special[1..39]
+    else:
+      quit("unhandled version " & url & " " & $wanted)
+  else:
+    let withTags = wanted.kind != verAny
+    let pairs = gitLsRemote(url, withTags)
+    var resultVersion: Version
+    for (tag, rev) in pairs:
+      var tagVer = Version(tag)
+      if tagVer.withinRange(wanted) and resultVersion < tagVer:
+        resultVersion = tagVer
+        result = (tag, rev)
+    if result.rev == "" and pairs.len > 0:
+      result = pairs[pairs.high]
+    doAssert result.rev != "", url
 
 proc collectMetadata(data: JsonNode) =
   let storePath = data["path"].getStr