Pkg.jl: Give hint for replacement of Pkg.installed() in deprecation warning

[stefan-m-lenz]

In Julia 1.4.0-rc2, Pkg.installed() is now deprecated:

julia> using Pkg

julia> Pkg.installed()
┌ Warning: Pkg.installed() is deprecated
└ @ Pkg D:\buildbot\worker\package_win64\build\usr\share\julia\stdlib\v1.4\Pkg\src\Pkg.jl:531
Dict{String,VersionNumber} with 3 entries:
  "StatsBase"         => v"0.32.2"
  "BoltzmannMachines" => v"1.2.0"
  "Tables"            => v"1.0.3"

It would be helpful if the deprecation message gave some hint about the replacement. Could you tell me what the alternatives are for using Pkg.installed?

Thank you very much!

[stefan-m-lenz]

In this issue there is already a discussion about Pkg.installed: https://github.com/JuliaLang/Pkg.jl/issues/697

I find the solution to use Pkg.add not sufficient because it seems a bit heavyweight, in particular I would like to avoid output to the command line.

[DilumAluthge]

The replacement for Pkg.installed is Pkg.dependencies.

https://julialang.github.io/Pkg.jl/dev/api/#Pkg.dependencies

[stefan-m-lenz]

Thanks @DilumAluthge

When I click at the link it says that this is an "experimental feature". Will this be experimental after the release of Julia 1.4? If yes, then I would say that the deprecation of Pkg.installed is too early. Deprecation says: "Please migrate your code" and this then forces migrating to code that is experimental.

Besides that, the replacement seems worse to me: Pkg.installed allows an access via the name of the package. With Pkg.dependencies, I need the UUID, which I have to search first. If I use it in code then, I have to document this seperately, whereas I can get the meaning of the code "Tables" in keys(Pkg.installed()) at one glimpse. (But this could, of course, also be more straigthforward.)

[MTone92]

If you just want to see the packages installed, you don't necessarily need Pkg. Instead, you can type ] in your console to get into pkg environment and simply type st to show all the packages installed by yourself.

[stefan-m-lenz]

@MTone92 The problem with Pkg.status is that it prints something. Pkg.installed returns a Dict, which can easily be inspected in code (not only manually). So Pkg.status is not a suitable replacement for Pkg.installed.

[liurui39660]

If possible, can add a subcommand list or ls? I think many package managers use this for listing installed packages rather than status or st. As a new user, I feel quite confused when I can't find the list subcommand in such a package manager.