Bug#207095: www.debian.org: no dates from package search

[Andrew Shugg <andrew@neep.com.au>]

Josip Rodin said:
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 09:55:07AM +0800, Dan Jacobson wrote:
> > Package: www.debian.org
> > Version: unavailable; reported 2003-08-25
> > Severity: wishlist
> 
> > http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/lynx.html leads to
> > "Download Page for lynx_2.8.4.1b-5_i386.deb on Intel x86 machines"
> > leads to
> > http://debian.linux.org.tw/debian/pool/main/l/lynx/lynx_2.8.4.1b-5_i386.deb
> > 
> > But nowhere does the user see one speck of date information for this
> > package, even down to the final click for a .deb.
> 
> It's not in the Packages index file, so... more or less very tedious to find
> out for the scripts.

Agreed, unless a link was also provided to the directory containing the
file in question.  I remember the old ftpsearch.ntnu.no site used to do
that, presenting matches in something like the following format:

  http://debian.linux.org.tw/debian/pool/main/l/lynx/ lynx_2.8.4.1b-5_i386.deb

with the corresponding HTML:

  <a href="http://debian.linux.org.tw/debian/pool/main/l/lynx/";>http://debian.linux.org.tw/debian/pool/main/l/lynx/</a> <a href="http://debian.linux.org.tw/debian/pool/main/l/lynx/lynx_2.8.4.1b-5_i386.deb";>lynx_2.8.4.1b-5_i386.deb</a>

(apologies for the obscenely long line)

This should be easy enough to do when generating the pages, especially
in the New Improved version that is under development.

Alternatively the date of the file can be inferred from the date of the
Changelog entry for that package version.  I know that each package's
changelog used to be available through the web site.  If that feature is
ever going to come back then it might be a 'nicer' solution than the
above suggestion.

On the other hand, navigating through packages.debian.org can't really
be a very common means of selecting and installing the appropriate
versions of the desired packages, can it?  How important is it then that
the package pages provide this information?

Sorry for the rambling,

Andrew.

-- 
Andrew Shugg <andrew@neep.com.au>                   http://www.neep.com.au/

"Just remember, Mr Fawlty, there's always someone worse off than yourself."
"Is there?  Well I'd like to meet him.  I could do with a good laugh."