diff --git a/src/subsystems/php/utils.nix b/src/subsystems/php/utils.nix
index c72b7e76..bd16f9e4 100644
--- a/src/subsystems/php/utils.nix
+++ b/src/subsystems/php/utils.nix
@@ -1,14 +1,60 @@
-{utils, ...}: {
+{
+  utils,
+  lib,
+  ...
+}: let
+  l = lib // builtins;
+
   # composer.lock uses a less strict semver interpretation
   # ~1.2 -> >=1.2 <2.0.0 (instead of >=1.2.0 <1.3.0)
+  # ~1   -> >=1.0 <2.0.0
   # this is identical with ^1.2 in the semver standard
-  satisfiesSemver = version: constraint: let
-    minorTilde = l.match "^[~]([[:d:]]+[.][[:d:]]+)$" constraint;
-    cleanConstraint =
-      if minorTilde != null && l.length minorTilde >= 0
-      then "^${l.head minorTilde}"
-      else constraint;
-    cleanVersion = l.removePrefix "v" version;
+  #
+  # remove v from version strings: ^v1.2.3 -> ^1.2.3
+  #
+  # remove branch suffix: ^1.2.x-dev -> ^1.2
+  #
+  satisfiesSemverSingle = version: constraint: let
+    removeSuffix = c: let
+      m = l.match "^(.*)[-][[:alpha:]]+$" c;
+    in
+      if m != null && l.length m >= 0
+      then l.head m
+      else c;
+    removeX = l.strings.removeSuffix ".x";
+    tilde = c: let
+      m = l.match "^[~]([[:d:]]+.*)$" c;
+    in
+      if m != null && l.length m >= 0
+      then "^${l.head m}"
+      else c;
+    wildcard = c: let
+      m = l.match "^([[:d:]]+.*)[.][*x]$" c;
+    in
+      if m != null && l.length m >= 0
+      then "^${l.head m}"
+      else c;
+    removeV = c: let
+      m = l.match "^(.)v([[:d:]]+[.].*)$" c;
+    in
+      if m != null && l.length m > 0
+      then l.concatStrings m
+      else c;
+    cleanConstraint = removeV (wildcard (tilde (removeSuffix constraint)));
+    cleanVersion = removeX (l.removePrefix "v" (removeSuffix version));
   in
-    utils.satisfiesSemver cleanVersion cleanConstraint;
+    (version == constraint)
+    || (
+      utils.satisfiesSemver
+      cleanVersion
+      cleanConstraint
+    );
+in {
+  satisfiesSemver = version: constraint: let
+    # handle version alternatives: ^1.2 || ^2.0
+    trim = s: l.head (l.match "^[[:space:]]*([^[:space:]]*)[[:space:]]*$" s);
+    clean = l.replaceStrings ["||"] ["|"] constraint;
+    alternatives = map trim (l.splitString "|" clean);
+  in
+    l.any (satisfiesSemverSingle version) alternatives;
 }