gleam-lang/gleam

Improve output of outdated dependency command

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#5573 opened on Apr 6, 2026

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good first issuehelp wanted

Description

In the discussion linked below, we came up with an improvement to the output of the gleam deps outdated command.

We would have 1 line stating how many outdated packages were found, a new line and then the table (if outdated packges > 0). For example:

$ gleam deps outdated
1 out of 12 packages have newer versions available.

Package       Current  Latest
-------       -------  ------
gleam_stdlib  0.70.0   0.71.0

$ gleam deps outdated
0 out of 12 packages have newer versions available.

The goal of this design is for the case of no outdated dependencies to not be silent (no output), while for other tools, that rely on this command, to still output something that is parsable in an easy manner.

Reference discussion: https://github.com/gleam-lang/gleam/discussions/5484

Edit: use '# of # packages have newer versions available' for the message

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
clideveloper experience
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Rust programmingGleam project structure
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
85
Research direction
Locate the implementation of the `deps outdated` command, likely in `src/bin/gleam/commands/deps.rs`. Add logic to print a summary line (e.g., 'X out of Y packages have newer versions available.') before the existing table output, and ensure no table is printed when zero packages are outdated. Consult the linked discussion (https://github.com/gleam lang/gleam/discussions/5484) for additional context.