[arch-general] How to track packages dropped from the repos?
Hi list, Sometimes packages are silently dropped from the repos. This happened for example in the last few days with mash 0.2.0-3, which apparently I installed as a dependency for gnome (I guess it is no longer required). I follow arch-general, arch-dev-public and aur-general, and as far as I know, this change wasn't announced in any of these lists. I recall other examples in the last 2-3 years (this is roughly the time I've used arch consistently), but now I don't remember the packages involved. Currently I try to keep track of these changes by running e.g. "pacman -Qm" and "pacman -Qdt" once in a while, so it's no big deal. However, I think it would be interesting to know from a more "official" channel when a package is dropped and why. This would allow users to be aware of the change and decide whether the package is still needed (and act accordingly, e.g. if the package is dropped to AUR, one could subscribe to comments or check for updates) or can be safely uninstalled. I searched without finding anything decisive (e.g. these threads [1] [2] suggest possible workarounds in the form of scripts). I wonder if better methods to track dropped packages exist; if not, would it be feasible to implement a solution, e.g. a list where dropped packages are announced, similar to "last rites" in gentoo? Thanks for your time, Lorenzo [1] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=147574 [2] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=125665
Am 19.04.2014 12:39, schrieb Lorenzo Bandieri:
Hi list,
Sometimes packages are silently dropped from the repos. This happened for example in the last few days with mash 0.2.0-3, which apparently I installed as a dependency for gnome (I guess it is no longer required). I follow arch-general, arch-dev-public and aur-general, and as far as I know, this change wasn't announced in any of these lists. I recall other examples in the last 2-3 years (this is roughly the time I've used arch consistently), but now I don't remember the packages involved.
Currently I try to keep track of these changes by running e.g. "pacman -Qm" and "pacman -Qdt" once in a while, so it's no big deal. However, I think it would be interesting to know from a more "official" channel when a package is dropped and why. This would allow users to be aware of the change and decide whether the package is still needed (and act accordingly, e.g. if the package is dropped to AUR, one could subscribe to comments or check for updates) or can be safely uninstalled.
I searched without finding anything decisive (e.g. these threads [1] [2] suggest possible workarounds in the form of scripts). I wonder if better methods to track dropped packages exist; if not, would it be feasible to implement a solution, e.g. a list where dropped packages are announced, similar to "last rites" in gentoo?
Thanks for your time,
Lorenzo
[1] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=147574 [2] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=125665
Hi Lorenzo, I am using yaourt to track packages from aur (and possibly packages moved from official repos to aur). Note, that it is not an official peace of software and you should read the wiki carefully. [1] Best wishes, Max [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Yaourt
On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 at 9:33 PM, Maximilian Bräutigam
Am 19.04.2014 12:39, schrieb Lorenzo Bandieri:
Hi list,
Sometimes packages are silently dropped from the repos. This happened for example in the last few days with mash 0.2.0-3, which apparently I installed as a dependency for gnome (I guess it is no longer required). I follow arch-general, arch-dev-public and aur-general, and as far as I know, this change wasn't announced in any of these lists. I recall other examples in the last 2-3 years (this is roughly the time I've used arch consistently), but now I don't remember the packages involved.
Currently I try to keep track of these changes by running e.g. "pacman -Qm" and "pacman -Qdt" once in a while, so it's no big deal. However, I think it would be interesting to know from a more "official" channel when a package is dropped and why. This would allow users to be aware of the change and decide whether the package is still needed (and act accordingly, e.g. if the package is dropped to AUR, one could subscribe to comments or check for updates) or can be safely uninstalled.
I searched without finding anything decisive (e.g. these threads [1] [2] suggest possible workarounds in the form of scripts). I wonder if better methods to track dropped packages exist; if not, would it be feasible to implement a solution, e.g. a list where dropped packages are announced, similar to "last rites" in gentoo?
Thanks for your time,
Lorenzo
[1] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=147574 [2] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=125665
Hi Lorenzo,
I am using yaourt to track packages from aur (and possibly packages moved from official repos to aur). Note, that it is not an official peace of software and you should read the wiki carefully. [1]
Best wishes, Max
List the packages that are in the repos and compare these lists to see what new packages are in the repos and which ones have been dropped. You can use expac to format the list the way you like it and run it daily / weekly. If you're using testing repos you should make sure you won't get flooded by the list of new packages twice - when they enter testing and when they're moved to non-testing repos. Packages "disappearing" from testing repos would be false positives when looking for the ones that have been removed completely. I think the easiest way would be to drop the repo name and keep just the package name, unless you care if the package is moved between repos e.g. from extra to community.
Sometimes packages are silently dropped from the repos. This happened for example in the last few days with mash 0.2.0-3, which apparently I installed as a dependency for gnome (I guess it is no longer required). I follow arch-general, arch-dev-public and aur-general, and as far as I know, this change wasn't announced in any of these lists. I recall other examples in the last 2-3 years (this is roughly the time I've used arch consistently), but now I don't remember the packages involved.
Currently I try to keep track of these changes by running e.g. "pacman -Qm" and "pacman -Qdt" once in a while, so it's no big deal. However, I think it would be interesting to know from a more "official" channel when a package is dropped and why. This would allow users to be aware of the change and decide whether the package is still needed (and act accordingly, e.g. if the package is dropped to AUR, one could subscribe to comments or check for updates) or can be safely uninstalled.
I searched without finding anything decisive (e.g. these threads [1] [2] suggest possible workarounds in the form of scripts). I wonder if better methods to track dropped packages exist; if not, would it be feasible to implement a solution, e.g. a list where dropped packages are announced, similar to "last rites" in gentoo?
yes, most arch users could write a script to track this after the fact, but personally I like the idea of advance notification. Perhaps a mailing list could be created for each repository, e.g. arch-core-notification arch-extra-notification, etc. New packages could be announced automatically. Deletions could be announced a week in advance, with any discussion taking place on arch-general. Maybe something like this is already going on among the TUs; if so, there's at least a bit of interest in making that more visible. Carl
On Sun, Apr 20, 2014 at 10:09 PM, Carl Schaefer
Sometimes packages are silently dropped from the repos. This happened for example in the last few days with mash 0.2.0-3, which apparently I installed as a dependency for gnome (I guess it is no longer required). I follow arch-general, arch-dev-public and aur-general, and as far as I know, this change wasn't announced in any of these lists. I recall other examples in the last 2-3 years (this is roughly the time I've used arch consistently), but now I don't remember the packages involved.
Currently I try to keep track of these changes by running e.g. "pacman -Qm" and "pacman -Qdt" once in a while, so it's no big deal. However, I think it would be interesting to know from a more "official" channel when a package is dropped and why. This would allow users to be aware of the change and decide whether the package is still needed (and act accordingly, e.g. if the package is dropped to AUR, one could subscribe to comments or check for updates) or can be safely uninstalled.
I searched without finding anything decisive (e.g. these threads [1] [2] suggest possible workarounds in the form of scripts). I wonder if better methods to track dropped packages exist; if not, would it be feasible to implement a solution, e.g. a list where dropped packages are announced, similar to "last rites" in gentoo?
yes, most arch users could write a script to track this after the fact, but personally I like the idea of advance notification. Perhaps a mailing list could be created for each repository, e.g.
arch-core-notification arch-extra-notification, etc.
New packages could be announced automatically. Deletions could be announced a week in advance, with any discussion taking place on arch-general. Maybe something like this is already going on among the TUs; if so, there's at least a bit of interest in making that more visible.
Carl
Sometimes packages are split, merged or renamed too.
2014-04-19 21:33 GMT+02:00 Maximilian Bräutigam
I am using yaourt to track packages from aur (and possibly packages moved from official repos to aur). Note, that it is not an official peace of software and you should read the wiki carefully. [1]
Hi Maximilian,
Thanks for your opinion on this. I am aware of the existence of
yaourt, however I'm not particularly fond of it. I prefer to build and
upgrade packages manually; I don't use many packages from the AUR, so
for me it's not an unbearable task :) In a certain sense, I was asking
that question precisely because I don't use yaourt or similar
helpers. As you said, if a package is dropped to AUR and you are using
an AUR helper, it takes care of updates for you; but if like me you
are doing all manually, you need to know that a package has been moved
to AUR or it won't be updated. Moreover, some packages are downright
removed without being dropped to AUR (e.g. mash).
2014-04-20 14:54 GMT+02:00 Karol Blazewicz
List the packages that are in the repos and compare these lists to see what new packages are in the repos and which ones have been dropped. You can use expac to format the list the way you like it and run it daily / weekly. If you're using testing repos you should make sure you won't get flooded by the list of new packages twice - when they enter testing and when they're moved to non-testing repos. Packages "disappearing" from testing repos would be false positives when looking for the ones that have been removed completely. I think the easiest way would be to drop the repo name and keep just the package name, unless you care if the package is moved between repos e.g. from extra to community.
Hi Karol, Thanks for the input. A script would partially address my need (one thing I'd like to know for example, is why a certain package was removed, which a script can't tell me; package removal without prior discussion/announce is not the norm, but as I said I've seen it happen sometimes). Some sort of notification in advance via mailing list (as suggested by Carl Schaefer) would be ideal for me... it's my responsibility to keep my sistem clean, I just think it would be useful to have a nicer way of doing this. Anyway, it's nothing that keeps me awake at night :) If there's no better way to do this, I guess a script is the way to go. Thanks everyone for the responses, Lorenzo
participants (4)
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Carl Schaefer
-
Karol Blazewicz
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Lorenzo Bandieri
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Maximilian Bräutigam