Alert about all charmlib updates available (not just ones matching the spec) on pack
Metadata
Current evaluation
Maintainer-authored request remains open: pack and fetch-libs should warn about all newer Charmhub charmlib releases, including those outside charmcraft.yaml constraints.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The maintainer clearly specifies the warning behavior for both commands, and current code still derives pack and fetch-libs metadata from the constrained project.charm_libs collection rather than alerting for every in-tree library update. Charmhub-hosted libraries are deprecated but remain supported, so this is obsolete rather than complete enough to close.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
52
Confidence:
93
Actionability:
86
Issue body
### What needs to get done
Right now pack only alerts of an update if it matches the `charm-libs` key, but it should alert on any available update.
Likewise, `fetch-libs` should alert the user about updates available that don't match the specification in charmcraft.yaml
### Why it needs to get done
In an unrelated conversation @jnsgruk mentioned that this should be done and it looks like I misunderstood "if there are newer versions of the library available in the store, or the libraries do not match the constraints specified, the user should be notified as part of the packing process, but it should only be a warning/info notice, and the pack process should carry on using the in-tree libraries." to be about `fetch-libs` being able to update and not about every case of updates.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
52
Confidence:
93
Actionability:
86
|
keep open | Maintainer-authored request remains open: pack and fetch-libs should warn about all newer Charmhub charmlib releases, including those outside charmcraft.yaml constraints. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
13
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
65
Actionability:
65
|
needs triage | Feature request to alert users about all available library updates during pack, not just those in the charm-libs key. Untriaged, no labels or maintainer response. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
19
Staleness:
72
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
62
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Feature request: charmcraft pack should warn about any available charmlib update, not just those matching the charm-libs spec; fetch-libs likewise. Open since 2023, no maintainer response beyond Jira sync; charmlibs commands are now deprecated. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
80
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Feature request to expand pack and fetch-libs alerts to all charmlib updates, not just those matching the spec. Untriaged with no maintainer response. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Request to alert on all available charmlib updates during pack and fetch-libs, not just those matching the spec. Untriaged, inactive for 10+ months, linked to internal Jira ticket. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Feature request to make pack and fetch-libs alert on all available charm library updates, not just those matching the spec. Currently untriaged and inactive for over 300 days. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Related To:
charmcraft#1918
(confidence 96%)
The prior pack change automatically installed non-matching charmlibs, but did not implement the broader update-alert behavior requested here.
-
Related To:
charmcraft#2691
(confidence 96%)
Added deprecation warnings to Charmhub library commands; this confirms deprecation but not removal or resolution of the requested alerts.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1980 Check for major charm library updates | charmcraft | open | Add major LIBAPI detection to charmcraft fetch-libs for CI. The request remains valid but low priority; fetching is currently limited to configured API versions, and a workaround exists. | |
| #988 Have a configuration for charms to always update charm libraries when packing | charmcraft | closed | Automatic library refreshes during packing were abandoned over the risk of releasing untested library versions; maintainers favored warnings, CI checks, or Renovate instead. | |
| #1918 feat(pack): automatically install non-matching charmlibs | charmcraft | merged | Merged #1918 (dae4d329): pack now automatically upgrades on-disk charmlibs that do not match charmcraft.yaml specifications. | |
| #509 `charmcraft analyze` - check for new version of library | charmcraft | closed | Closed as a duplicate of canonical/charmcraft#417, which was abandoned after concerns that remote library checks would add network calls and slow packing. |