404 for registered package with no release

[inglesp]

This was originally raised against PyPI.

When a package has been registered, but no release has been uploaded, Warehouse returns a 404. It would be more helpful if it displayed information about package.

For an example of this, see https://pypi.io/project/spider/.

[reversefold]

How does one find out information about a registered package which has no releases? I tried to upload a package for which I thought the name was unused but got an error (see the linked ticket). I'd like to be able to contact the person who registered it as well as seeing how old the registration is but am not sure how to do so.

[brainwane]

Thanks for the bug report! And I'm sorry for the slow response.

In a Warehouse core developers' meeting earlier this month, we decided to pare down our near-future milestones on our development roadmap so they really only contain the essential bugfixes and features we need to launch, replace legacy PyPI, and shut down the old site. I see this behavior is currently the same on legacy PyPI and on the new site. So I'm moving this issue into a milestone further in the future; sorry for the wait.

I also think this may be related to the policy questions addressed in PEP 541 so I'm marking it with that tag as well, so that when that gets accepted, there'll be a little more clarity on how to properly address this.

Thank you again.

[di]

I'm not sure I would call this a "bug", but it's definitely un-ergonomic and can cause confusion when a new package author thinks a name has not been taken.

I think we either need to create a new page for this, or make the current project detail view handle a project with zero releases, either of which should indicate that the name is registered but has no releases (and possibly link to our PEP 541 policy/procedure).

[pradyunsg]

Does this still need more discussion?

[di]

Yes, I think so. There are challenges to both:

• Create a new page for this: what does this look like? How does it communicate to the user the state of this project? Do we really need a new page?
• Make the current project detail view handle a project with zero releases: The "project" page is actually rendering a release, so without a release to render, it doesn't really work as intended.

[pradyunsg]

I was looking at the code and, separately from the discussion above, the relevant page we'd add for this would need to be rendered at this point in the code:

https://github.com/pypa/warehouse/blob/96da89d80d7e8b4e025efbdb4ab485f697505f67/warehouse/packaging/views.py#L52