After upgrading the compiler, `opam switch` shows wrong info

[OlivierNicole]

I was using the compiler version 5.5.0~beta1. I ran opam install ocaml-base-compiler.5.5.0 --update-invariant. It worked but now opam switch’s output is wrong, even though the invariant has been correctly updated:

$ opam switch invariant
["ocaml-base-compiler" {= "5.5.0"}]
$ opam switch
#  switch                    compiler                                           description
→  main                      ocaml-base-compiler.5.5.0,ocaml-options-vanilla.1
          ocaml-base-compiler = 5.5.0~beta1

[kit-ty-kate]

Thanks for the report. Mmh, this is a bit tricky because it's not exactly that the output is "wrong" per say.

What is being displayed per columns here is:

• the switch name: here main
• the list of compiler packages: here listed as ocaml-base-compiler.5.5.0,ocaml-options-vanilla.1
• the description: and here the problem is that the description was automatically filled in the first time the switch was created, but when the invariant was changed opam doesn't know anymore if the description was set manually or not.

Tbh, i feel like the description should be blank to begin with and only left for the users to fill in if they wish to, otherwise it will cause problems like that. Also the information is usually redundant with the list of compiler packages. We could add a column which shows the invariant but i think that would be too much information. What do you think?

[OlivierNicole]

Yes, keeping the description blank by default sounds like a good idea.

[kit-ty-kate]

I've opened #7062 which should take care of that. Sadly though, it will only change newly created switches and can't modify existing ones.

In the meantime you can use something like:

for sw in $(opam switch list -s); do
  opam switch "--switch=$sw" set-description ""
done

to set all your switches' description to be empty.

[OlivierNicole]

Thanks a lot for the PR and the workaround!