diff --git a/lib/local-storage.js b/lib/local-storage.js
index 08b5955cb..764feafd1 100644
--- a/lib/local-storage.js
+++ b/lib/local-storage.js
@@ -151,10 +151,17 @@ Storage.prototype.update_versions = function(name, newdata, callback) {
 			}
 		}
 		for (var tag in newdata['dist-tags']) {
-			// if tag is updated to reference latter version, that's fine
-			var need_change = 
-				(data['dist-tags'][tag] == null) ||
-				(!semver.gte(newdata['dist-tags'][tag], data['dist-tags'][tag]))
+			if (!Array.isArray(data['dist-tags'][tag]) || data['dist-tags'][tag].length != newdata['dist-tags'][tag].length) {
+				// backward compat
+				var need_change = true
+			} else {
+				for (var i=0; i<data['dist-tags'][tag].length; i++) {
+					if (data['dist-tags'][tag][i] != newdata['dist-tags'][tag][i]) {
+						var need_change = true
+						break
+					}
+				}
+			}
 
 			if (need_change) {
 				change = true