16 Oct '19

Package managers: update or upgrade?

tools ux

Quick quiz: for the following language/system package managers, what’s the name of the subcommand to update¹ your project/system to the latest version of one (or more) of your project’s dependencies?

package manager	language/system
bundle	Ruby
pip	Python
poetry	Python
pipenv	Python
npm	javascript
yarn	javascript
brew	macOS
apt-get	Debian
cargo	Rust
stack	Haskell
lein	Clojure
dep	Go
cpan	Perl
mix	Elixir

package manager	language/system	(sub)command name
bundle	Ruby	upgrade
pip	Python	go away2
poetry	Python	update
pipenv	Python	update
npm	javascript	update or upgrade
yarn	javascript	upgrade
brew	macOS	upgrade
apt-get	Debian	upgrade
cargo	Rust	update
stack	Haskell	update
lein	Clojure	ancient upgrade
dep	Go	ensure -update
cpan	Perl	upgrade
mix	Elixir	deps.update

For bonus points, which of them also recognise the “other” subcommand but it does something different? For even more bonus points, when does that “other” option do something unwanted/destructive/irreversible (assuming that all you want to do is update that dependency to the latest version)?

Look, I’m not at all saying that you should just go and blindly update/upgrade all of the things—that’s clearly a bad idea. But it still takes me a non-zero amount of time as I switch between languages/tools to sit and think “ok, for this project do I want to update or upgrade”? And that makes me sad.

If there’s a deep, principled (or even a shallow, pragmatic) reason to pick one or the other then we should observe it, and do it consistently. Even if there’s not, we should toss a coin and be consistent anyway.

If any of the above commands are incorrect, or if there’s a better way, then let me know.

1. or, y’know, upgrade ↩

2. https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/59 ↩