Robert Pluim <rpluim@gmail.com> writes:

> M-x list-packages
> / n ack ;; navigate to the line for 'ack'
> i ;; 'ack' has the 'I' flag
> / / ;; 'ack' no longer has the I flag
>
> This makes it harder to do 'search for foo, mark,
> search for bar, mark, install', you have to remember to execute the
> action after each mark command.
>

That's an interesting issue, it can be a bit tricky because while
filtering for "bar", "foo" is no longer anywhere to be found in the
buffer.  So AFAIU to solve this Emacs needs to maintain something like a
buffer-local association between list entry (package) ids and the tags
they were given.

This sounds like something that applies more broadly to other
`tabulated-list-mode` derivatives as well.  The attached patch adds a
`tabulated-list-maintain-tags` variable and enables it in
`package-menu-mode`.  With it I can search and mark foo, then search and
mark bar, and then install both, as you say.  WDYT?