Go Time: when should you update a dependency?

In Go Time’s dependency discussion, Johnny Boursiquot recalls adopting OpenTelemetry while its Go libraries were still changing quickly. Keeping up meant repeatedly fixing moved packages and changing interfaces. Ian Lopshire argues that small, regular changes can be easier than one large breaking update. The conversation separates deliberate maintenance of a moving dependency from waiting for a vulnerability alert.

Go Time / Changelog · Jul 3, 2024

Why it matters

Useful for teams deciding how much ongoing maintenance to accept when choosing an evolving library.

More context

This older discovery covers the publicly accessible transcript’s “Updating dependencies” segment, 25:13–27:51, within a roughly 64-minute episode. Read or listen to that segment and review your own update cadence.

Keep in mind

These are practitioner experiences from 2024, not a universal update policy or a description of OpenTelemetry’s current stability.

Transcript read