Package removal requests

Do you need to request removal?

As part of their archive maintenance role, the ftp-master team periodically (usually every few days) run a tool which searches for packages that should be removed. This tool used to be known as "rene" (and is still often referred to as such) but has now become the "auto-cruft" sub-command of dak. In the cases handled by this tool, there is no need to request that your package be removed.

You can view a recent copy of the tool's output at [http://ftp-master.debian.org/~jeroen/rene-full.txt]. The most common cases that are handled by the tool are:

Removals from testing, stable and oldstable

The ftp-master team only process removals from the unstable and experimental distributions.

The table below summarises the relevant contact points for requesting removals from other distributions.

Distribution

Contact

[http://www.debian.org/releases/testing testing]

Release Managers [mailto:debian-release@lists.debian.org debian-release@lists.debian.org]

[http://www.debian.org/releases/stable stable]

Stable Release Managers [mailto:debian-release@lists.debian.org debian-release@lists.debian.org]

oldstable

Not possible

Note that in most cases it is unnecessary to request removal of your package from both testing and unstable. Once the package is removed from unstable, it will automatically be removed from testing once there are no dependencies keeping it there.

If you do need the package simultaneously removed from both distributions, you will need to file a removal bug for unstable as usual, and contact the Release Managers to request removal from testing.

Before requesting removal

Reverse Dependencies

If your package has reverse dependencies in unstable, you need to ensure that they are aware of your intention to remove the package. Where possible, this will include suggesting (either via bugs or direct contact with the maintainer) a means of the dependent package handling the removal.

For instance, if you are removing an obsolete version of a library that the dependent package is still using, you should suggest that they transition to the current version.

If you are a DD, you can execute the folllowing command on merkel to check your package's reverse dependencies:

dak rm -Rn $SOURCEPACKAGE

Who are you?

The ftp-masters will need to know your relationship to the package (if any) in order to process your request. In most cases, they will expect the request to be made by the maintainer (including co-maintainers) although there are a number of other parties who might be expected to submit removal requests for various reasons:

If you do not fall in to any of the categories listed, you should indicate in your report why you are requesting that the package be removed. In all cases, if there is a maintainer and it's not you, mention the maintainer's opinion or, if you don't know it, mention how and when you tried to contact him. If you didn't try to contact the maintainer, do so first. One way would be to file the bug as an RC bug on the package first, indicating why you think the package should be removed, and asking the maintainer if he/she agrees with reassigning the bug to ftp.debian.org. If after a few weeks and some prodding there's still no reaction, and you believe the ftp-master team would process the removal anyway despite the maintainer not having replied, you might consider reassigning the bug yourself.

Upgrade path

If you're requesting a removal because of a package rename, give some thought to a proper upgrade path for existing users. Consider building a dummy upgrade pseudo-package from the new, renamed package. For example, 'iceape' in etch also builds dummy 'mozilla', 'mozilla-browser', etc packages. Once such a dummy pseudo-package has appeared in a stable release, you can then simply stop building it and it'll get semi-automatically removed (see above).

If the old name of the package has never appeared in a stable release, it also makes no sense to have it do so; make sure that such dummy packages do not appear in stable releases in this case.

How to request removal

File a bug against the [http://bugs.debian.org/ftp.debian.org ftp.debian.org pseudo-package]. The ftp-masters do not take account of the severity of the bug reported when processing removals and, except in very rare cases (e.g. licensing problems) removals from unstable or experimental are not release critical. Removal bugs should thus be filed as severity "normal"; if you believe the request to be "important" or "serious" then simply provide appropriate reasoning in the report.

The subject line of the bug report should be in the format

where

Examples

The m68k porters request that bigpackage's m68k binaries be removed as they do not build

The binary package foobar (from source package fizz) is no longer built on hppa, some other binary packages of source fizz are still built on hppa. If a version of the package built on hppa is present in testing, this will stop the new version of foobar entering testing due to the "missing" hppa binaries.

ANAIS may also be used in situations where a binary package has been uploaded for an architecture which is not listed in the package's control file. This can occur if, for example, the package was built and uploaded by neither the maintainer nor an official auto-builder, or if the list of supported architectures is being reduced.

Package wibble is orphaned, has release critical bugs and appears to have been abandoned upstream. In this case the package has never been part of a Debian release and the QA team request its removal.