Check for major charm library updates
Metadata
Current evaluation
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.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: FetchLibs.run currently requests metadata only for API versions declared in charmcraft.yaml, confirming the missing major-version check. @lengau explicitly called the request “really nice” but “low priority” and offered implementation help; the desired CI behavior and whether to check or auto-upgrade remain unspecified, so the valid request should remain open.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
36
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
91
Actionability:
66
Issue body
### What needs to get done
`charmcraft fetch-libs` should offer a way to check for major charm library updates, or even pull them in.
Currently, `charmcraft fetch-lib` updates charm libraries to the latest LIBPATCH, which provides a way to check for minor upgrades, but there's no way to detect when there's an update with a higher LIBAPI.
### Why it needs to get done
We need a way to detect whether a charm library has a new major update or not. The idea is for a CI workflow to open a GitHub issue in a repository when that happens, so it can be tracked and prioritized properly.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
36
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
91
Actionability:
66
|
keep 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. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
15
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
82
Actionability:
62
|
keep open | Feature request: give `charmcraft fetch-libs` a way to detect/report higher LIBAPI (major) charm library updates, not just LIBPATCH. Still unimplemented; maintainer called it nice but low priority. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
17
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
70
Actionability:
70
|
keep open | Feature request to add major library update detection to charmcraft fetch-libs for CI workflows. Maintainer acknowledged as low priority but offered to help implement. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
21
Staleness:
65
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
5
|
keep open | Feature request to detect major (LIBAPI) charm library updates via fetch-libs or a new command, enabling CI workflows to flag breaking library upgrades. Maintainer acknowledged as low priority in June 2025; no implementation yet. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
80
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Feature request to add major library update detection to charmcraft fetch-libs. Acknowledged by maintainers as low priority with a community workaround available. Currently unlabelled and unassigned. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
75
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Feature request to add major library update detection to charmcraft fetch-libs. Maintainer acknowledged it as low priority but open to implementation help. Currently inactive with an external workaround in place. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Feature request to detect major charm library updates in charmcraft. Maintainer triaged it as valid but low priority and invited community contributions. Inactive for over 10 months with a community workaround available. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Related To:
charmcraft#509
(confidence 86%)
Earlier request to check for a new library version under charmcraft analyze; it directly overlaps this detection use case, although that issue targeted a different command.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #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. | |
| #1977 Alert about all charmlib updates available (not just ones matching the spec) on pack | charmcraft | open | Maintainer-authored request remains open: pack and fetch-libs should warn about all newer Charmhub charmlib releases, including those outside charmcraft.yaml constraints. |