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+---
+EEP: 0039
+Title: Communicate ekapkgs-update policy through passthru
+Author: Jonathan Ringer
+Status: Draft
+Type: Standards Track
+Topic: Packaging
+Created: 2026-05-03
+---
+
+# Motivation
+
+Package maintainers often need fine-grained control over how automated update tools handle their packages. Some packages require pinned versions for stability, others need to filter out pre-release versions, and some may have custom version detection requirements. Currently, there is no standardized way to communicate these preferences to the ekapkgs update tool.
+
+This proposal introduces a `passthru.ekapkgs-update` attribute scope that allows package maintainers to declaratively specify update behavior directly in their package definitions. This approach:
+
+- Provides a clear, self-documenting way to communicate update intent
+- Reduces maintenance burden by eliminating the need for external configuration files
+- Aligns with similar patterns in the Nix ecosystem (e.g., nix-update)
+- Enables package-specific update policies that travel with the package definition
+
+# Detailed Specification
+
+The `passthru.ekapkgs-update` attribute set accepts the following options:
+
+## `skip` (boolean)
+
+When set to `true`, instructs ekapkgs to skip attempting to update this package entirely.
+
+**Type:** `bool`
+**Default:** `false`
+**Use cases:**
+- Packages with intentionally pinned versions
+- Packages undergoing critical testing that shouldn't be updated automatically
+- Deprecated packages that should remain frozen
+- Packages which require a lot of bespoke fixes to make work
+
+## `version-regex` (string)
+
+A regular expression pattern that valid version strings must match. The update tool will only consider versions that match this pattern.
+
+**Type:** `string` (POSIX extended regular expression)
+**Default:** `null` (no filtering)
+**Use cases:**
+- Filtering out beta, rc, or alpha releases (e.g., `"^[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+$"`)
+- Restricting to specific version branches (e.g., `"^2\\..*"` for v2.x only)
+- Excluding versions with specific suffixes or prefixes
+
+## `semver-strategy` (string)
+
+Controls which version updates are acceptable based on semantic versioning constraints.
+
+**Type:** `string`
+**Default:** `"latest"` (accept any newer non-prerelease version)
+**Supported values:**
+- `"latest"` - Accept any newer non-prerelease version (default)
+- `"major"` - Same as "latest" - allow major version updates
+- `"minor"` - Only update to latest minor version within the same major version (e.g., 1.x.x)
+- `"patch"` - Only update to latest patch version within the same major.minor version (e.g., 1.2.x)
+
+**Use cases:**
+- Conservative updates: Use `"patch"` to minimize breaking changes
+- Moderate updates: Use `"minor"` to get new features without major version jumps
+- Packages with non-standard versioning schemes
+
+**Note:** Maps to the existing `SemverStrategy` enum in ekapkgs-update.
+
+## `include-prereleases` (boolean)
+
+When set to `true`, allows the update tool to consider pre-release versions (alpha, beta, rc, etc.) as valid update candidates.
+
+**Type:** `bool`
+**Default:** `false` (exclude prereleases)
+
+**Use cases:**
+- Packages that track unstable/development versions
+- Tracking development versions (e.g., Rust nightly, beta channels)
+- Early adopters who want to test upcoming versions
+
+
+# Example Usage
+
+
+```nix
+{
+
+    # Skip updates for a pinned package
+    passthru.ekapkgs-update.skip = true;
+
+    # Filter out pre-release versions
+    passthru.ekapkgs-update = {
+      version-regex = "^[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+$";
+    };
+
+    # Track only v2.x releases
+    passthru.ekapkgs-update = {
+      version-regex = "^2\\..*";
+    };
+
+    # Allow for prereleases. E.g. "0.1.0-alpha.5";
+    passthru.ekapkgs-update = {
+      include-prereleases = true;
+    };
+
+    # Only accept patch updates within current version
+    passthru.ekapkgs-update = {
+      semver-strategy = "patch";
+    };
+
+    # Track minor versions, including prereleases
+    passthru.ekapkgs-update = {
+      semver-strategy = "minor";
+      include-prereleases = true;
+    };
+
+}
+```
+
+# Future work
+
+## Branch Tracking
+
+Tracking specific Git branches (e.g., `stable`, `lts-v2`) is deferred to future work as it requires a fundamentally different update mechanism than release/tag-based updates. Proposed attribute:
+
+```nix
+passthru.ekapkgs-update = {
+  follow-branch = "stable";  # Track specific branch instead of releases
+};
+```
+
+**Challenges:**
+- Branches don't have inherent version numbers
+- Requires different API calls (branches endpoint vs releases/tags)
+- Version comparison would need to use commit metadata instead of semver