Check for major charm library updates
Metadata
Current evaluation
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.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: Maintainer @lengau acknowledged the request in June 2025 as 'fairly low priority' but offered to help with implementation, and the feature (detecting LIBAPI updates) is still absent from fetch-libs in the current code. The issue remains valid, scoped, and actionable, so it should stay open.
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
21.0
Staleness:
65
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
5
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
21.0
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. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
75
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Extend charmcraft fetch-libs to detect major library updates via LIBAPI changes for CI tracking. Currently low priority but open to contributions, with a community workaround available. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Related To:
charmcraft#417
(confidence 70%)
Prior request to check/notify library updates, closed without implementation due to performance concerns; this issue is a more specific re-filing focused on a dedicated command.
-
Related To:
charmcraft#509
(confidence 60%)
analyze-based check for new library versions, closed as duplicate of #417.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1977 Alert about all charmlib updates available (not just ones matching the spec) on pack | charmcraft | open | 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. | |
| #510 `charmcraft analyze` - check for library modifications | charmcraft | closed | Superseded by the charm-libs key. The lint feature for detecting local library modifications was replaced with this configuration approach. | |
| #509 `charmcraft analyze` - check for new version of library | charmcraft | closed | Superseded by issue #417. The feature request to have charmcraft analyze detect newer charm library versions in the store was closed as a duplicate. | |
| #988 Have a configuration for charms to always update charm libraries when packing | charmcraft | closed | Rejected. The proposal was abandoned due to CI risks and scope concerns. Maintainers agreed charmcraft should not auto-update libraries, favoring CI automation or external tools like Renovate for dependency management. |