fedora-docs / package-maintainer-docs

#164 Package Update Guide: Check for dependents with `fedrq`
Merged by oturpe. Opened by oturpe.
fedora-docs/ oturpe/package-maintainer-docs make-fedrq-official  into  main

Download 164.patch

Previously, fedrq was only mentioned in the Utilities page. On the other hand, Package Update Guide did not have anything about checking for affected dependents. Move fedrq usage instructions to that page, so it is part of a document describing a full workflow, rather than just in a list of random tools.

Also add fedrq to Installing Packager Tools page, which effectively makes it the official recommended tool for that purpose. This not a large change in practice, because the docs do not use anything else for the same purpose.

The new Finding dependents section in Package Update Guide is quite short for such a complicated topic. It can be extended later. The purpose of this change is not to exhaustively cover that topic. The purpose is just to move the existing coverage of fedrq abd checking for affected packages.

rebased onto ba64aa79fafc24570c0baad275a800b049f6adff

I would recommend using a formatter for the output of fedrq (see the man page for available formatters).

The given command can be enhanced with -F source listing only the name of the source package that depends on the queried package:

$ fedrq whatrequires-src --branch f38 --formatter source python-pydantic
fawltydeps
fedrq
input-remapper
matrix-synapse
psi4
python-aws-sam-translator
⋮

Particularly for Python packages I find --formatter source+requiresmatch very helpful. It shows you the package name as well as possible version constraints, which is common with Python packages. But it's beyond the scope of this document and the command is rather slow with this particular formatter.

I missed another option: -X or --exclude-subpackages. Pretty self-explanatory, making the full example command:

$ fedrq whatrequires-src --branch f38 --exclude-subpackages --formatter source python-pydantic

Maybe using --branch f41 gives it a more modern, up to date feel. More a cosmetic thing, though.

rebased onto ba64aa79fafc24570c0baad275a800b049f6adff

Thank you, this is useful feedback. I added the parameters you propose. I also switched the branch to rawhide, which will never get stale and anyhow is usually the first branch to handle when updating something

I will wait a couple of day still until I merge this.

rebased onto ba64aa79fafc24570c0baad275a800b049f6adff

I removed the part about asking to install fedrq in Installing Packager Tools. This was not required, because fedora-packager already Recommends it. After this pull request gets merged, I will propose changing that to Requires on the basis that it is now the officially sanctioned tool for this purpose.

rebased onto cb9670a8db0f5d5209058ffd4ef485cee4f5f7c3

Pull-Request has been merged by oturpe

No more comments, so merging.
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