diff --git a/lib/package.js b/lib/package.js
index c0bc395e5..6504ee6fc 100644
--- a/lib/package.js
+++ b/lib/package.js
@@ -145,11 +145,11 @@ exports.getVersionMatch = function(pkg, versions) {
       versionList.push(v);
   }
 
-  branchVersions.sort(semver.compare);
-  versionList.sort(semver.compare);
+  branchVersions.sort(semver.compare).reverse();
+  versionList.sort(semver.compare).reverse();
 
   // find highest stable match in tags
-  for (var i = versionList.length - 1; i >=0; i--) {
+  for (var i = 0; i < versionList.length; i++) {
     var version = versionList[i];
 
     var semverMatch = version.match(semver.semverRegEx);
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ exports.download = function(pkg, jspmPackages, options, preload) {
 
   var downloadDir = path.resolve(jspmPackages, pkg.endpoint, pkg.exactPackage);
   var cacheDir = path.resolve(config.HOME, '.jspm', 'packages', pkg.endpoint, pkg.exactPackage);
-  var exactVersion, lastNamePart, main;
+  var lastNamePart, main;
 
   var override;
 
@@ -290,9 +290,6 @@ exports.download = function(pkg, jspmPackages, options, preload) {
   var endpoint = ep.load(pkg.endpoint);
 
   return Promise.resolve()
-  .then(function() {
-    exactVersion = pkg.version;
-  })
 
   // get the override
   .then(function() {
@@ -377,7 +374,7 @@ exports.download = function(pkg, jspmPackages, options, preload) {
     if (endpoint.getPackageConfig)
       // we only use the getPackageConfig pjson if
       // we are going to run a build, otherwise we use the saved one
-      return Promise.resolve(endpoint.getPackageConfig(pkg.package, exactVersion, pkg.hash))
+      return Promise.resolve(endpoint.getPackageConfig(pkg.package, pkg.version, pkg.hash))
       .then(function(_pjson) {
         // apply the override and package config operations
         if (!pjson)
@@ -408,7 +405,7 @@ exports.download = function(pkg, jspmPackages, options, preload) {
     })
     // do the download
     .then(function() {
-      return endpoint.download(pkg.package, exactVersion, pkg.hash, cacheDir);
+      return endpoint.download(pkg.package, pkg.version, pkg.hash, cacheDir);
     })
 
     // process the package fully
@@ -466,6 +463,7 @@ exports.download = function(pkg, jspmPackages, options, preload) {
 exports.processPackage = function(pkg, dir, pjson) {
   var endpoint = ep.load(pkg.endpoint);
   var deps;
+  var buildErrors = [];
 
   return Promise.resolve()
 
@@ -476,7 +474,10 @@ exports.processPackage = function(pkg, dir, pjson) {
   })
 
   // apply build operations from the package.json
-  .then(function() {
+  .then(function(_buildErrors) {
+    if (_buildErrors)
+      buildErrors = buildErrors.concat(_buildErrors);
+
     // don't build in dependencies
     deps = pjson.dependencies;
     delete pjson.dependencies;
@@ -484,8 +485,17 @@ exports.processPackage = function(pkg, dir, pjson) {
   })
 
   // save the final calculated package.json in place
-  .then(function() {
+  .then(function(_buildErrors) {
+    if (_buildErrors)
+      buildErrors = buildErrors.concat(_buildErrors);
     pjson.dependencies = deps;
+  })
+  .then(function() {
+    // write build errors
+    if (buildErrors.length)
+      return asp(fs.writeFile)(path.resolve(dir, '.jspm.errors'), buildErrors.join('\n\n'));
+  })
+  .then(function() {
     return asp(fs.writeFile)(path.resolve(dir, '.jspm.json'), JSON.stringify(pjson, null, 2));
   });
 }