diff --git a/content/technical/2018/06/using-feedbin-to-maintain-aur-packages.md b/content/technical/2018/06/using-feedbin-to-maintain-aur-packages.md index dbe0d89..f4f763f 100644 --- a/content/technical/2018/06/using-feedbin-to-maintain-aur-packages.md +++ b/content/technical/2018/06/using-feedbin-to-maintain-aur-packages.md @@ -1,7 +1,12 @@ +I maintain a number of packages in the Arch User Repository (AUR). In this post +I describe how I use the RSS reader service, Feedbin, to stay on top of updates +so that users of my packages don't need to flag the package out of date when +new versions are released. + One of the many reasons that makes using Arch Linux a pleasure is the Arch User Repository (AUR). The AUR allows users to contribute the scripts (`PKGBUILD`) -to build a package installable by `pacman`, the system package manager. The -benefit installing sortware this was, is that all fails are tracked, it's +to build a package installable by the system package manager `pacman`. The +benefit installing software this was, is that all files are tracked, it's easily uninstallable, dependencies can be expressed and installed when needed, and you end up helping the community by making it easier for other to install software. @@ -9,15 +14,25 @@ software. When I encounter some software that is not yet packaged in the main repos or AUR I'll often create an AUR package for it. In doing so I become the maintainer of that package and am responsible for keeping it up to date. At the -time of writing I currently maintain 12 packages. +time of writing I currently maintain 12 packages. -It would be tiresome to have to repeatedly visit the source repository of every +When a new version of the upstream software is release the AUR package needs +to be updated. It would be tiresome to have to repeatedly visit the source repository of every project to check for new releases. Fortunately there's a solution to this -problem that has been around for a long time: RSS RSS lets you subscribe to a +problem that has been around for a long time: RSS. RSS lets you subscribe to a feed then your feed read checks for new entries and shows them. All you have to do is check on your feed reader periodically. A perhaps little known fact is that there is an Atom feed for the releases of every GitHub project. The URL is that of the release page with `.atom` -appended. E.g. https://github.com/wezm/titlecase/releases.atom +appended. E.g. +My feed reader of choice is [Feedbin]. Feedbin is a hosted feed reader that +is supported by a number of number of clients. The code to Feedbin is open +source but I happily pay the $5/month knowing that I'm helping support it +and know that my data is not being sold on. (Feedbin's privacy policy is tiny) + +Since the majority of projects that I am packaging are hosted on GitHub I can +subscribe to the releases of each one in Feedbin. I tag them all with "Releases". + +https://feedbin.com/privacy-policy