Only show the latest version in the Arch index

[ExplodingDragon]

Only show the latest version of the package in the arch repo, having too many packages will make the index larger, and most of the time, there isn't much demand for downloading older versions of software packages.

[wxiaoguang]

Actually I have some questions about the design.

• KEEP_LATEST_VERSION sounds like "only keep the package with latest version, and delete others"
• After reading code, I think it means that "only show the package with latest version in the package index"

So the questions are:

• Should we delete the old packages? Or not delete, just hide them from the index (this PR does)?
• Could it ("deleting old packages" or "not-deleting but just hide old packages from index") be a general behavior for other package registries?
• The config name sounds misleading: I think it should clarify what's the expected result in the name: deleting, or just hiding.

[ExplodingDragon]

Actually I have some questions about the design.

* `KEEP_LATEST_VERSION` sounds like "only keep the package with latest version, and delete others"

* After reading code, I think it means that "only show the package with latest version in the package index"

So the questions are:

* Should we delete the old packages? Or not delete, just hide them from the index (this PR does)?

* Could it ("deleting old packages" or "not-deleting but just hide old packages from index") be a general behavior for other package registries?

* The config name sounds misleading: I think it should clarify what's the expected result in the name: deleting, or just hiding.

@wxiaoguang Sorry, I misspoke. KEEP_LATEST_VERSION will change to SHOW_LATEST_VERSION.

[wxiaoguang]

Are there some reference documents for the "only show latest version in index" behavior? (The question is why it is needed to be done on server side, since client could always figure out the latest version)

[ExplodingDragon]

Are there some reference documents for the "only show latest version in index" behavior? (The question is why it is needed to be done on server side, since client could always figure out the latest version)

@wxiaoguang No, this comes from my subjective opinion. Having too many packages will make the index larger, and most of the time, there isn't much demand for downloading older versions of software packages. Other package registries are facing the same situation.

Just like Arch Linux's rolling release model, which only keeps the latest version.

[wxiaoguang]

Thank you for the clarification. To be honest, I think it needs more time to make this PR mature.

1. We could/should learn from other package registries (and maybe arch official site) to see how they handle such requirements.
2. If there are too many out-dated packages (for example, some in-house usage, the packages would be published rapidly), I think it's better to delete them but not just hiding them.

[ExplodingDragon]

@wxiaoguang Thanks for your review.

We could/should learn from other package registries (and maybe arch official site) to see how they handle such requirements.

In Arch Linux, older versions of packages are stored in the Arch Linux Archive , and the index only contains the latest versions. e.g. archlinux/core/os/x86_64 , Other packages are the same, like Alpine.

But for some software package repositories, like Kubernetes, keeping only the latest version isn't suitable because they need to install older versions to meet their requirements.

If there are too many out-dated packages (for example, some in-house usage, the packages would be published rapidly), I think it's better to delete them but not just hiding them.

The old package cleanup feature already exists and meets the requirements (it cleans up outdated packages and rebuilds the index).

[wxiaoguang]

We could/should learn from other package registries (and maybe arch official site) to see how they handle such requirements.

In Arch Linux, older versions of packages are stored in the Arch Linux Archive , and the index only contains the latest versions. e.g. archlinux/core/os/x86_64 , Other packages are the same, like Alpine.

So for this case, it doesn't need a new option, just "only show latest packages" for arch/alpine?

[ExplodingDragon]

So for this case, it doesn't need a new option, just "only show latest packages" for arch/alpine?

@wxiaoguang As mentioned earlier (for some software package repositories like Kubernetes), there are users who need to keep historical versions.

In fact, this option should be included in the organization settings. maximum package upload size limit and custom package registry GPG signatures also need to be moved to the organization settings.

[wxiaoguang]

So for this case, it doesn't need a new option, just "only show latest packages" for arch/alpine?

@wxiaoguang As mentioned earlier (for some software package repositories like Kubernetes), there are users who need to keep historical versions.

Yes, so I said just "only show latest packages" for arch/alpine? It should follow the official behavior.

[wxiaoguang]

In fact, this option should be included in the organization settings. maximum package upload size limit and custom package registry GPG signatures also need to be moved to the organization settings.

Maybe no one has interest/motivation to refactor the user (org) settings system at the moment ..... anyway, "open source".