Blocked is an Elixir-library that helps you to keep track of when hotfixes can be removed by showing compile-time warnings when issues (in your project repository or any other source-code GitHub repository) are closed.

Blocked was made to improve the quality of your project’s code over time: It automates away the human task of checking whether certain hot-fixes, ‘temporary patches’ or ‘duct-tape code’ are still required. This makes it less scary to add a temporary workaround to your codebase, because you’ll know the minute it is no longer necessary!

Basic features:

• Runs at compile-time as a macro.
• Prints a compile-time warning any time an issue is closed that a piece of your code was waiting for.
• Works for your own project issues as well as for issues of any other GitHub-hosted repository.
• Allows specifying both ‘hotfix’ and optionally a ‘desired’ code block, to make it clear to future readers of your code what can be changed once the related issue is closed.
• Configurable to work on private repositories as well.
• By default performs only checking in Continuous Integration, to keep local compilation fast.

Simple usage example

defmodule Example do
  require Blocked

  def main do
    IO.puts("Hello, world!")
    Blocked.by("#42", "This code can be removed when the issue is closed") do
      hacky_workaround()
    end
    
    # The reason is optional
    Blocked.by("#69") do
      a_quick_fix()
    end
    
    # It is possible to indicate
    # the desired 'ideal' code as well, by passing an `else` block:
    Blocked.by("#1337") do
      ugly_fallback()
    else
      beautiful_progress()
    end
    
    # If the blockage is more general, you can also leave out the `do` block.
    Blocked.by("#65535", "This whole module can be rewritten once we're on the new Elixir version!")
    
    # Blocked supports many ways of referring to an issue
    Blocked.by("#13")
    Blocked.by("elixir#13")
    Blocked.by("elixir/13")
    Blocked.by("elixir-lang/elixir#13")
    Blocked.by("elixir-lang/elixir/13")
    Blocked.by("https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/issues/13")
  end
end

Find it on GitHub and talk about it on the Elixir Forum! :-)