For pip-type packages we can get version information automatically from PyPI. This new subcommand downloads the latest tarball and updates package-version.txt and checksums.ini in one go:
$ sage --package update-latest matplotlib
Updating matplotlib: 1.5.0 -> 1.5.1
Downloading tarball to /home/vbraun/Code/sage.git/upstream/matplotlib-1.5.1.tar.bz2
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Depends on #29890
Component: packages: optional
Author: Volker Braun
Branch/Commit: u/mkoeppe/automatic_updates_of_pip_type_packages @ a91ecab
Reviewer: Matthias Koeppe
Issue created by migration from https://trac.sagemath.org/ticket/20104