[MRESOLVER-686] Backport version comparison fix to 1.9.x

[bentatham]

Fixes ...293.225.2.0-dev for version range null: Comparison method violates its general contract! when there is a modifier on the version (eg when using mvn versions:update-parent).

When two versions differ in kind at index 0 (e.g. a string-prefixed branch-style version versus a numeric release whose first segment is zero), comparePadding with a number filter may return 0 even though the versions are clearly different. That makes equality non-transitive and breaks TimSort when DefaultVersionRangeResolver sorts metadata lists mixing both shapes.

This is the same fix as MRESOLVER-336, which was applied to 2.x but never landed on the 1.9.x line that ships with Maven 3.9.x.

Adds two regression tests covering the three-way transitivity violation and a representative sort.

Following this checklist to help us incorporate your
contribution quickly and easily:

• Your pull request should address just one issue, without pulling in other changes.
• Write a pull request description that is detailed enough to understand what the pull request does, how, and why.
• Each commit in the pull request should have a meaningful subject line and body.
  Note that commits might be squashed by a maintainer on merge.
• Write unit tests that match behavioral changes, where the tests fail if the changes to the runtime are not applied.
  This may not always be possible but is a best-practice.
• Run mvn verify to make sure basic checks pass.
  A more thorough check will be performed on your pull request automatically.
• You have run the integration tests successfully (mvn -Prun-its verify).

If your pull request is about ~20 lines of code you don't need to sign an
Individual Contributor License Agreement if you are unsure
please ask on the developers list.

To make clear that you license your contribution under
the Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004
you have to acknowledge this by using the following check-box.

• I hereby declare this contribution to be licenced under the Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004
• In any other case, please file an Apache Individual Contributor License Agreement.

[cstamas]

Thanks for porting this!
The bad news: Resolver 1.9.x is being EOLd, along with Maven 3.9.x line, once first Maven 3.10.0 is out (that uses Resolver 2.x).. So I cannot promise will there be new release of Resolver 1.9.x with this change...

[bentatham]

Ok, that's great. So the underlying bug will be fixed in Maven 3.10.0 then, I believe.

[cstamas]

You can already try it, CI deploys snapshots of 3.10.x (choose latest by timestamp):
https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/snapshots/org/apache/maven/apache-maven/3.10.0-SNAPSHOT/