I am using a lot of python packages in my manifest io.github.archisman_panigrahi.QuickBib/io.github.archisman_panigrahi.QuickBib.json at master · flathub/io.github.archisman_panigrahi.QuickBib · GitHub
I saw somewhere that there is a bot which sends PRs for python package updates. How do I enable something like that in my repo?
To quote the documentation on updates:
The bot you’ve seen is likely the External Data Checker.
This works by adding information to your manifest on where to look for updates. The bot will then regularly check for updates. If it finds some, it will create an Merge Request with the updated modules.
If you use flatpak-pip-generator to generate the manifest for your Python packages, you could, in theory, use the --checker-data argument to add this information automatically.
That being said, I assume that would lead to a lot of updates, since every updated Python package would result in a new Merge Request. Not great for your users in my view.
I’m not sure if this is possible with the allowed actions provided by Flathub, but what I would attempt would be this:
I would create a workflow which uses External Data Checker to check the modules you have in your main manifest, so the application and main libraries. If the External Data Checker finds an update, I would then run the flatpak-pip-generator to update the additional pip packages. Then you could use the create-pull-request action to create a new Merge Request.
Keep in mind that even with such a system you still need to merge it manually, and importantly check if the updated app works as expected.
How do I limit the data checker to the main libraries?
Since the External Data Checker only checks on modules for which it was configured, you can omit modules by just not providing an configuration.
but why do you need to update?
I am also the author of doi2bib3, which is the python backend of quickbib. When I add new features to doi2bib3 and release a new version, I want to automate the quickbib flatpak update without manually looking for the correct download link or the SHA256 hash.
I mostly want to update this single python dep. The other python deps really don’t need any update right now.