microsoft / microsoft/winget-cli
Add a new package field named 'Unreliable/Winget-Unstable' for problematic packages
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- Dominant language
- C++
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Description
Description of the new feature / enhancement
There are a lot of winget-pkgs that are broken when installed through winget.
- Things like Gyan.FFmpeg can be installed but not uninstalled (https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/issues/181353).
- Discord always has version issue but can't be removed to maintain backward compatibility/not break existing workflows (https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/issues/172175#issuecomment-2336698570). There are so many duplicates of this issue with no resolution.
- And so on: https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3AIssue-Bug
So instead of removing a package, can we add field Unreliable or Winget-Unstable(or anything more-suited) to a package which we know has issues when installed through winget.
It would just the add a Note at the end of installation or even with winget show saying the installation may have issues.
The whole point is to keep User informed of what's happening.
Note that we can't use the word 'Deprecated' for field name as that is something that package-dev would state.
Proposed technical implementation details
- We add optional field named
UnreliableorWinget-Unstableto packages that which we know or have confirmed have issues when installed through winget or in general -> winget-pkg change. - It would just the add a Note at the end of installation or even with
winget showsaying the installation may have issues -> winget-cli change. - Above could be extended to add individual notes or details. Or marked as 'version-mismatch issue', 'uninstall issue', '', etc. -> winget-pkg and winget-cli change.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Review the winget-pkgs package metadata and the winget-cli paths handling package installation and winget show. Determine how an optional Unreliable or Winget-Unstable field could be represented and surfaced as an installation note. Done means the field and its note behavior are defined across both repositories, including any supported issue details.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- cli, tooling
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100