Breaking Changes Without Breaking Users: Lessons from Packit 1.0
summary
Packit 1.0.0 removes long-deprecated config keys (the last one, "sincet files", was deprecated in 2022) and that change risks CI breakage for downstream services. The project supports about ~2,000 projects and estimates ~60 packages would break; mitigation includes a months‑to‑years deprecation window, automated analysis that downloads configs and proposes pull requests to update upstream files, and a one‑month user notice before release. Results: most repos received PRs and many merged, but issues remain — missed downstream updates, stale forks, some PRs unanswered — and tooling fixes and config‑versioning are proposed.
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chapters (8)
- 0:00Packit and 1.0 release
- 1:07What Packit automates
- 4:46Breaking changes in 1.0
- 7:37User communication before 1.0
- 10:34Config update challenges
- 14:54User feedback on changes
- 17:11Live audience feedback
- 21:00Final thoughts and Q&A
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