distro_series.getSourcePackage behaves oddly

[Brian Murray]

When using the following commands with the Launchpad API I received back an object and I don't think I should have.

ubuntu = launchpad.distributions['ubuntu']
karmic = ubuntu.getSeries(name_or_version='karmic')
karmic.getSourcePackage(name='compiz-plugins')
<source_package at https://api.edge.launchpad.net/beta/ubuntu/karmic/+source/compiz-plugins>

However, compiz-plugins does not exist in Karmic - https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/+source/compiz-plugins.

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

This happens because the name can be matched to all distro series. This relates to bug 204119. If we choose not return the non-existent package, we need to verify this does not prevent uploaders adding packages.

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

I think we need to update the documentation. Since SourcePackage is a meta object representing names and publishing history, getSourcePackage does not guarantee that the package was published. The method is used to access the meta-information needed to publish a source package in a series, changing its behaviour will break initial publication.

We should add a optional kwarg (published_only=False) that guarantees that will ensure None is returned if there is no publishing history. This means that a deleted package will still be returned, as well as one that has not been built yet.

I am not sure the Launchpad would use this kwarg. For example if it was used, non-Ubuntu distros (which have no publishing history) will always raise a 404 when someone tries to navigate to the page. This may cause many 404s because users who report a package in Fedora for example are implicitly making a link to an unpublished package.

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

Fixed released in launchpad-project 10.02.