On Sun, Apr 20, 2014 at 10:09 PM, Carl Schaefer <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> 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.
