Subject: Re: bug#75490: 30.0.93; package-upgrade-all - show upgradeable packages

From: Daniel Mendler <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2025 12:55:31 +0100

Ship Mints <[email-masked]> writes:

> package-upgrade, when invoked interactively, does show the list of
> upgradeable packages. When combined with a decent minibuffer completion
> configuration (like Daniel's Vertico), I can cherry-pick or select
> all.

Yes, multi-action works with Vertico+Embark. However in my Emacs
`package-upgrade' shows more than the list of upgradeable archive
packages, such that I am not using this due to the noise. Also
`embark-act-all' cannot be used.

I just took another look, `package-upgrade' shows upgradeable built-in
packages. I really never want to upgrade them. I don't have package.el
configured to upgrade built-ins, so why are they shown? Is this a bug in
`package-upgrade'?

For this reason I use my own `package-upgrade-all' command variant which
shows me a list of packages, instead of the insufficient confirmation
with only the number of upgradeable packages - this is what this minor
issue is about.

> In the security vein, package-upgrade commands could also show both the
> current version(s) and the target version(s) which would be convenient and
> assist people willing to put in the work to actually look at package
> sources before they upgrade.

Agree. Regarding showing the sources, I've mentioned bug#74604. My
preferred upgrade workflow would go via `package-upgrade-all'. Confirm
the list of packages at the beginning and then for each package confirm
the diff.

Daniel