bug#55470: [PATCH] Add package-delete-regexp

[Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>]

"Marwan L." <techmetx11@disroot.org> writes:

> On Wed, May 18, 2022 at 11:17:26PM +0000, Philip Kaludercic wrote:
>> "Marwan L." <techmetx11@disroot.org> writes:
>> 
>> > This function allows you to delete packages, with names that match the
>> > regexp. This is makes operations like deleting multiple packages that
>> > begin with the same namespace (^company.*, ^treemacs.*, etc.) much
>> > easier to do
>> 
>> What is the advantage of a separate function for deleting packages
>> compared to marking packages in the *Packages* buffer using "/ n" (that
>> also accepts a regular expression)?
>
> It depends on how much packages you have to go through. If you have tons
> of packages to mark deletion on, then it will most likely involve
> holding d (wish you could do C-u 100 d) and then doing x

Apparently the prefix argument does not work, though you can do the same
with a macro.  Maybe adding a "t" to toggle the selection, though this
would be a very specific use-case.

What do you think about extending the package-menu-filter commands with
a way to mark all packages instead of filtering?

> `M-x list-packages` will also automatically fetch the latest list of
> packages from your package archives, which is unnecessary
>
> There's a prefix argument that disables fetching, but I didn't know that
> before making this function nor this patch

There is also M-x package-list-packages-no-fetch.

> You are free to close this patch if you want to

No, that is not my intention, I just wanted to clarify a point.

>> 
>> > The function will also tell you how much packages it will delete (in a
>> > temporary buffer) and prompt for a Yes or No answer