# Being informed about new registered packages and releases

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070>\
**Category:** Community\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 19, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070 "2019-10-19T05:31:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![dilumaluthge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dilumaluthge/32/29283_2.png) [@dilumaluthge](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dilumaluthge)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/21 "2019-10-22T19:45:07Z")

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I had the idea to have a Slack channel, and there would be a bot that watched the General registry, and posted every “New Package” pull request to the slack channel.

I don’t have the time to implement such a bot myself, but it would be very cool if someone were to do so.

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**Author:** ![juliohm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/juliohm/32/215266_2.png) [@juliohm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/juliohm)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/22 "2019-10-22T23:01:32Z")

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I personally prefer a RSS feed. It makes it possible to read the news when we find time. Slack erases the history after some time because we are in a free plan. Also, Slack is noisy.

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**Author:** ![dilumaluthge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dilumaluthge/32/29283_2.png) [@dilumaluthge](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dilumaluthge)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/23 "2019-10-23T00:54:43Z")

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Good point.

If someone does end up making this bot, perhaps they could make a single backend with multiple frontends. The frontends would be RSS, Slack, etc. So users could choose their frontend.

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**Author:** ![Marc.Cox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/marc.cox/32/7514_2.png) [@Marc.Cox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc.Cox)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/24 "2019-10-27T19:08:59Z")

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Hi @djsegal , @StefanKarpinski

Heres to wishing you luck with [Juliaobserver.com](http://Juliaobserver.com) 504 error ( gateway timeout ) .

And here’s a first shot at the issue per AWS [AWS offers solution to resolve 504 Errors with Cloudfront CDN](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/resolve-http-504-errors-cloudfront/)

If the site has been hacked down what is Amazons AWS SLA to restore service ?

Good Luck and message me if I can help you.

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**Author:** ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/25 "2019-10-27T19:11:50Z")

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I don’t have any connection to JuliaObserver.

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**Author:** ![Marc.Cox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/marc.cox/32/7514_2.png) [@Marc.Cox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc.Cox)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/26 "2019-10-27T19:48:41Z")

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Per the poll below JuliaObserver was useful to the community at about 1,000 visits a week.

> [@How do you feel about Julia Observer?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-you-feel-about-julia-observer/18577):
>
> As we’re getting to the two year mark of [JuliaObserver](http://juliaobserver.com), I thought it was a good time to check in w/ you guys. Currently, the website has ~1k weekly users, with an average session time of 3-4 minutes. [http://juliaobserver.com](http://juliaobserver.com) If you could, please fill out the following poll. All comments are welcome, so be as honest as you want. [poll](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-you-feel-about-julia-observer/18577/1) // hope you're all having a good holidays! here's to another lap around the sun clinking_glasses

&& Thanks for your reply Stefan @StefanKarpinski . Understood you have no direct connection with it, but FYI [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) has been down over a week now, and its not clear if anyone is working on it .  
Also, All the alternative “work arounds” are extremely cumbersome, way too far down in the weeds for a searchable functional overview of available Julia packages, and so would be very weak substitutes for [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) .

Would you or anyone else on this thread know who to contact, offer help to etc. ?

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**Author:** ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/27 "2019-10-27T20:10:08Z")

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Are you aware of [https://pkg.julialang.org](https://pkg.julialang.org)?

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**Author:** ![Marc.Cox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/marc.cox/32/7514_2.png) [@Marc.Cox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc.Cox)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/28 "2019-10-27T20:17:45Z")

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Yes I am thanks. And I consider [pkg.julialang.org](http://pkg.julialang.org) a useful resource to dive into the weeds for a particular package _ **after** _ selecting a particular package selected from the list of options I generate from searching [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) ; so IMHO [pkg.julialang.org](http://pkg.julialang.org) is useful Yes ; but substitute for [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) _No ._

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**Author:** ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/29 "2019-10-27T20:19:01Z")

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What search capabilities are you missing on [pkg.julialang.org](http://pkg.julialang.org)?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marc.Cox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/marc.cox/32/7514_2.png) [@Marc.Cox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc.Cox)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/30 "2019-10-27T20:34:55Z")

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Wow, Thats a rather a large question @StefanKarpinski , but Ill try. 👍😁

One example: KWS: QR decomposition

pkg julialang org Doesnt show the Relationships / **Overview Between the Packages,**  
as in Package fooJK \<\< Requires Package fooAB, and  
is \>\> Used by Package fooLM, fooOP, and fooRS .

Also don’t know the count of Stars from the community that the package is useful, bugfree etc.

Also don’t see any example code / MWE etc.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20190530063341/https://juliaobserver.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20190530063341/https://juliaobserver.com/)

Sure you may be able to dig around for a few hours  
and rebuild [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) from pkg julialang org ;  
but why recreate the wheel yourself when you’ve  
already seen it done better before and can "take it all in with one glance at the JO dashboard "  
using [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/31 "2019-10-29T15:49:34Z")

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I have to confess that I never really used JuliaObserver. Since it’s down, I can’t try it now. [pkg.julialang.org](http://pkg.julialang.org) does include numbers of stars for package, so I’m curious what additional information you’d want there. Showing what other packages a package depends on or is depended on is a pretty clear feature, although I’m somewhat curious what the use case for that is—when do you need to know that? Regarding example code and MWE, is clicking the package tab and seeing the README and docs not sufficient?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![js135005](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/js135005/32/8219_2.png) [@js135005](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/js135005)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/32 "2019-10-29T16:10:02Z")

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What it doesn’t show is a quick summary of which packages have been added or updated - categorized by area. This is where Julia Observer was helpful. IIRC it also showed how many times packages had been downloaded by time period.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dilumaluthge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dilumaluthge/32/29283_2.png) [@dilumaluthge](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dilumaluthge)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/33 "2019-10-29T16:11:17Z")

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> [@js135005](#):
>
> IIRC it also showed how many times packages had been downloaded by time period.

How would this be possible? If I understand correctly, GitHub does not share that information with us.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![js135005](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/js135005/32/8219_2.png) [@js135005](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/js135005)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/34 "2019-10-29T16:14:48Z")

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I’m less sure of this last. Perhaps it was some other measure of the interest in various packages.

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**Author:** ![ChrisRackauckas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chrisrackauckas/32/77_2.png) [@ChrisRackauckas](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ChrisRackauckas)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/35 "2019-10-29T16:21:16Z")

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You can follow only releases of packages on Github now.

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**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/36 "2019-10-29T16:33:48Z")

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Yes — that’s a great feature, but it still doesn’t keep me informed about _new_ registered packages.

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**Author:** ![baggepinnen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/baggepinnen/32/693_2.png) [@baggepinnen](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/baggepinnen)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 9:19am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/37 "2019-10-30T09:19:56Z")

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Knowing which packages package `A` depends on, and the reverse, which packages depends on package `A`, is useful when determining if one wants to depend on `A` for new packages.  
E.g., if package `A` only depends on well maintained packages and many well used packages depend on `A`, it is somewhat safe to assume that `A` will be well maintained. If on the other hand, `A` depends on obscure packages and no packages depend on `A`, it’s a more risky move to have a dependency on `A`.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 9:30am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/38 "2019-10-30T09:30:35Z")

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I think there are two discussions going on in this topic:

1. how to keep up with information about Julia packages in a more or less organized, convenient, and asynchronous way (ie one can catch up with stuff at intervals, on demand),

2. using metadata from the registry and Github to form opinions about packages.

(2) is interesting and potentially useful, but my question is about (1).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![djsegal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/djsegal/32/13752_2.png) [@djsegal](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/djsegal)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 4:00am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/39 "2019-11-03T04:00:57Z")

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Sorry for letting Julia Observer go [offline](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-you-feel-about-julia-observer/18577/22) for a couple weeks. Got hacked and didn’t have time to set everything back up. The websites back online (without any data), so now I’m running all the workers and hoping it just works™.

As always, if you have any julia observer questions or suggestions, leave a [github issue](https://github.com/djsegal/julia_observer/issues) 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marc.Cox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/marc.cox/32/7514_2.png) [@Marc.Cox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc.Cox)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 4:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/being-informed-about-new-registered-packages-and-releases/30070/40 "2019-11-03T04:17:36Z")

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Hi djsegal ,

No worries - ok so honestly, **I was** a _little_ worried 😅  
At any rate, Thank You for your work on [JuliaObserver.com](http://JuliaObserver.com) 👍

Btw @djsegal you may want to read over his comments in this thread and check with @Tamas_Papp about something like a personalized updateable cookie ( to maintain state) for a “whats news to me” date driven RSS feed function on the _News Tab_ we see here \>\> [https://web.archive.org/web/20190530063341/https://juliaobserver.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20190530063341/https://juliaobserver.com/) ;  
Alternatively if you are busy message me and we can see about me gathering his functional requirements  
and possibly coding it - both/either way is fine.

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