On the original zopefoundation/meta they had this option as True by default, as the idea is to ensure that whenever major changes (new python version, etc) are applied to a template folder (here in plone/meta only config/default) all repositories listed in packages.txt would be updated.
Here in plone/meta we departed from that idea and instead we use this tool as a generic configuration tool for any repository. It is not only meant for plone packages only.
Thus, it does not make sense to track packages by default.
On the original
zopefoundation/metathey had this option asTrueby default, as the idea is to ensure that whenever major changes (new python version, etc) are applied to a template folder (here inplone/metaonlyconfig/default) all repositories listed inpackages.txtwould be updated.Here in
plone/metawe departed from that idea and instead we use this tool as a generic configuration tool for any repository. It is not only meant for plone packages only.Thus, it does not make sense to track packages by default.