bug#19296: [PATCH] Package archives now have priorities.

[Jorgen Schaefer]

On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 21:48:48 -0500
Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:

> > Actually, it should not suggest an upgrade in this case, because the
> > currently installed version is higher than the highest available one
> > (package-menu--find-upgrades).
> 
> So we're back with the same problem as we currently have:
> if you've installed MELPA's 20120425 and the package gets into GNU
> ELPA with version 1.4, you'll keep using the older version.

What kind of behavior do we want, then? :-)

The problem I am trying to solve is:


When I install a package by name using M-x package-install foo, I want
to install the highest version of "foo" from any repository but MELPA
if it is available, and if not, the highest version of "foo" from MELPA.

When I installed a package from another repository than MELPA, and I
ask package.el to upgrade all packages, I do not want to get an upgrade
suggestion to MELPA.


The problem you now mention is: What should happen if I installed a
package from MELPA and it is now available from another repository?

I don't think there is a good solution for that. We could come up with
an idea such as "if, at the time this repository was chosen, the
package was not available from another repository, but now it is, it
should ...", but that seems rather arcane and requires us to store a
lot more information than we currently do.

Right now, the upgrades should simply stick to MELPA. Once MELPA,
always MELPA. I think this is, while maybe not the best possible
option, an acceptable one.

Considering the two problems I described above are solved, and the
default behavior is not affected at all, I think this patch is a strict
improvement over the current situation.

Regards,
Jorgen