> >> 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
