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Updating an existing Package

In case you are looking for packages which need to be updated have a look at our Outdated Packages page. To get a list of packages which are outdated and have potential security issues have a look at the Repology pages for msys2_mingw and msys2_msys2.

Updating a Package

  • Fork the packages repository if you haven't already and create a new branch for your update
  • Look at the upstream changelog for potential update related information like new dependencies, changes to build options, changes to the build system, etc.
  • Update pkgver in the PKGBUILD and reset pkgrel back to 1
  • Run updpkgsums in the PKGBUILD directory for updating the checksums of the source files
  • Run makepkg-mingw --cleanbuild --syncdeps --force --install --noconfirm to build and install the new version
  • Test the new version, if possible
  • Commit and push your changes and open a pull request. Try to include some brief information of your changes like why you added/removed patches, why you added/removed new dependencies, why you changed the build options etc.

If your lucky then this is all that's needed, but in some cases the new version might need some additional work:

  • In case there are patches that no longer apply they have to be refreshed
  • In case some patches are no longer needed in the new version they have to be removed
  • In case the release is signed by a new signing key the key has to be added to the validpgpkeys array
  • In case of major changes, like a build system switch, consider comparing the old build result and the new build result for differences to avoid any regressions. meld can be a helpful tool for this.
  • In case there are incompatible changes that might break reverse-dependencies (DLL name changes, ABI breaks, etc.) bump the pkgrel of all reverse dependencies and include them in your PR.

After you have submitted your pull request, our CI system will try to build the package for all environments and do so some simple checks on it. After the update is reviewed and merged you can follow the build process on our Pending Updates status page.