Quick Update on the Package Version Tracking Feature in OBS

We have a couple of news to share with you on the package version tracking feature in OBS. We extended the feature in the API space, allow to skip version tracking for individual packages and display the version info in a couple more places.

These updates are part of the Foster Collaboration beta program. You can find more information about the beta program here.

Our efforts to foster collaboration started in August 2024, when we introduced labels and bug report links. Next, we improved labels to foster collaboration, allowed labeling projects and introduced the functionality of managing labels with the API. Building on that, we introduced Assignments. Recently, we’ve introduced package version tracking based on the Release Monitoring which has been enhanced with the Package Version Information. Then came label-based filtering and automatic unassignments when a request is accepted. Following that, Package Version Tracking gained new capabilities like upstream release notifications and user documentation. Recently, we have introduced New Version Tracking through API and Automatic Labeling, now followed by an Quick Update on the Package Version Tracking Feature in OBS.

Show Upstream and Local Version of a Package Through API

From now on, it is possible to list the current upstream and local package version for a specific package through the API. Passing the view=versions query parameter to the endpoint documented here will do the trick.

Skip Version Tracking for Individual Packages

For some packages (like product definitions) it does not make much sense to track the upstream version (since it is only relevant for OBS and usually no upstream project exists). In those cases the package will always be shown as “Outdated” which is misleading. That is why we added an option to manually disable the upstream version tracking for those. Just head over to the package overview, there you can toggle a checkbox under “Edit” (where the package description, title etc. can be set).

Package Version Shown on Requests and Notifications

Packages are usually updated through submit requests. It is one of the places where the current package version is interesting. That’s why we included the current package version to the request index, request show and notification views for submit requests. If both the source and target project have package version tracking enabled, you can see right away from which to which version a package gets updated.

How To Give Us Feedback

There are two ways to reach us:

• On GitHub, by opening an issue and / or commenting on an already opened issue.
• On IRC, by talking directly to us. We are in the channel #opensuse-buildservice on Libera.Chat.

Please note that we favor GitHub to gather feedback as it allows us to easily keep track of the discussions.