Merge pull request #127 from alphagov/tell-users-this-repo-isn't-main…

…tained

Recommend users to not use the country and territory autocomplete

README.md

@@ -1,7 +1,31 @@
-# GOV.UK country and territory autocomplete - what it is and how to use it
+# GOV.UK country and territory autocomplete
 
 The country and territory autocomplete is a component that helps users choose countries and territories in answers. You should only use this component for services where users have to provide their country or territory.
 
+## The GOV.UK country and territory autocomplete is no longer actively maintained
+
+It's recommended that you do not use this component, as:
+* it's only updated to address serious security issues – see the Support section for more information
+* it's highly likely that the country and territory data provided by this component is out of date – the [Openregister picker engine](https://github.com/alphagov/openregister-picker-engine), used to retrieve the country and territory data, is now archived
+
+The GOV.UK Design System Team plan to retire this component in the future.
+
+## Support
+
+The GOV.UK Design System team maintains the country and territory autocomplete. However, we’re only able to put in minimal work to support it.
+
+[Read about our plans to maintain this component](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-country-and-territory-autocomplete/issues/106).
+
+[Read more about the types of support we can provide](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-country-and-territory-autocomplete/issues/91).
+
+## Alternatives
+
+[The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) maintains a list of approved British English-language names for countries and territories](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/geographical-names-and-information), which could be combined with the [Accessible autocomplete component](https://github.com/alphagov/accessible-autocomplete).
+
+The Design System has not fully verified the combination of these 2 resources. We plan to make a recommendation for service teams in the future as part of retiring the GOV.UK country and territory autocomplete component.
+
+## How to use this component
+
 This component includes complete functionality to make it faster and easier for users to find a location. For example, to select their country of birth or their current location.
 
 For other types of question, you should use the accessible autocomplete. To find information about this component, go to the [accessible-autocomplete README](https://github.com/alphagov/accessible-autocomplete/blob/main/README.md).
@@ -18,18 +42,6 @@ This guide will show you how to:
 
 [Try out the example.](https://alphagov.github.io/govuk-country-and-territory-autocomplete/examples/)
 
----
-
-## Support
-
-The GOV.UK Design System team maintains the country and territory autocomplete. However, we’re only able to put in minimal work to support it.
-
-[Read about our plans to maintain this component](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-country-and-territory-autocomplete/issues/106).
-
-[Read more about the types of support we can provide](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-country-and-territory-autocomplete/issues/91).
-
----
-
 ## Integration process
 
 To integrate an application with the autocomplete, you'll need to:
@@ -128,15 +140,6 @@ You can additionally specify custom synonyms on the `<option>` elements by using
 </select>
 ```
 
-## Keep the data up to date
-
-Government Digital Service will publish new versions of the `govuk-country-and-territory-autocomplete` package when the data changes, such as when countries are renamed.
-
-To keep up to date, you can use dependency monitoring tools, such as:
-
-- [Greenkeeper](https://greenkeeper.io/), a GitHub bot that will submit pull requests to your open source project when there are new versions of your dependencies
-- [David](https://www.npmjs.com/package/david), a command line tool that can be configured to run on your continuous integration environment and return a non-zero status when there are new versions of your dependencies
-
 ## Glossary
 
 country register - A list of British English-language names and descriptive terms for countries.