setVariables doesn't notify subscribers when cache hit

Intended outcome: Calling setVariables() on a ObservableQuery should notify subscribers of a data change. This works as expected if the query is not cached and results in a network request.

Actual outcome: If a query has been cached setVariables() does not notify its subscribers of the data change. From tracing the code it appears the correct data is pulled from the cache and set as the query result, however subscribers are never notified of the result like they are when a network query occurs.

How to reproduce the issue:

app.module.ts

constructor(apollo: Apollo, httpLink: HttpLink) {
  apollo.create({
    link: httpLink.create({}),
    cache: new InMemoryCache()
  });
}

data.service.ts

const TestQuery = gql`
  query TestQuery($name: String!) {
    users(name: $name) {
      name
      userid
    }
  }
`;

constructor(private apollo: Apollo) {
  this.queryRef = this.apollo.watchQuery<QueryResponse>({
    query: TestQuery,
    variables: {
      name: ""
    }
  });
}

getUsers() {
  return this.queryRef.valueChanges;
}

nameUpdate(name) {
  this.queryRef.setVariables({
    name: name
  });
}

view.component.ts

ngOnInit() {
  this.dataService.getUsers().subscribe({data}) => {
    this.users = data.users;
  });
}

// These are tied to user actions, but for demonstrating the issue, calling directly.
this.dataService.nameUpdate('bob');  // Performs new network query and updates observable
this.dataService.nameUpdate('john'); // Performs new network query and updates observable
this.dataService.nameUpdate('bob'); // Queries the cache and DOES NOT update observable

Versions

• apollo-client@2.1.0
• apollo-cache@1.0.2
• apollo-cache-inmemory@1.1.3
• apollo-angular@1.0.0

[s-panferov]

The same for refetch, it does not call .next() too

[PowerKiKi]

Migrated to https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-feature-requests/issues/25, because the current situation is confusing at best or buggy at worst.