Project browser dialog displays misleading last updated date

[indigoxela]

Description of the bug

The installer project dialog displays <?php print $last_updated; ?>, which presumably is the project node's changed date. This is very misleading info, as project nodes get updated by cron runs, but maintainers don't even have access.
So what is this information there good for, anyway? It has nothing to do with the project.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Go to admin/modules/install
2. Open the info dialog of any random project

Actual behavior

An info is shown that suggests, this project's actively maintained and has recent updates.

Here an example of an unmaintained module not touched in years:

Expected behavior

No misleading info. Seriously, not displaying any date there would be better than the automated node update date.

Additional information

• Backdrop CMS version: up until latest dev

Display happens in core/modules/installer/templates/installer-project-dialog.tpl.php

[indigoxela]

Showing a useful info there probably involves several repos. While it would be beneficial to actually display, when the project repo had an update, it's a lot more effort, so my suggestion's to drop that print $last_updated; for now.

[swampopus]

So I set out to try to get the actual most recent release information.
Here's what I found for the module devel

$project = array('type' => 'module', 'name' => 'devel', 'includes' => array());
module_load_include('inc', 'installer', 'installer.browser');
dpm(installer_browser_get_project_release_data($project));

Shows result:

Sooo.... this would work, and we'd be able to display the most recent release AND its date, but would calling installed_browser_get_project_release_data() be too much traffic? It makes an http request to b.org (I think) to get this info.

EDIT: Also notice we also get a link for the release notes for that version, which I think might be nice to have as well on the install dialog.

[indigoxela]

Maybe it helps to narrow the purpose of this dialog?

This is to show what this project's actually good for, no? So, which information is useful there, and which information would be unnecessary?

Ideally, this would not cause additional HTTP requests. The info should be there by one fetch...

[yorkshire-pudding]

I support removing this date as it is meaningless.
I'm not sure how useful the last release information will always be. There are many modules that work stably for years without needing an additional release. Including this information could make a module look stale and unmaintained, whereas it is just working with no need for additional releases.

[swampopus]

Good points re: fetching and displaying latest release info. I agree-- just ditching it from the .tpl.php file is by far the easiest option.

[swampopus]

I made a very simple PR that just removes it from the tpl.php file.

[indigoxela]

I made a very simple PR that just removes it from the tpl.php file.

Awesome, many thanks for the PR. Works for me! 👍