Re: Possible future apt changes: release upgrades

David Kalnischkies <[email protected]> Tue, 3 Mar 2026 23:05:59 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.apt.devel
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Am Tue, Mar 03, 2026 at 06:33:23PM +0100, schrieb Julian Andres Klode:
> > - package foo (which provides a world-accessible security bugged server
> >   component of course) is unmaintained and dropped from Debian. Maybe it
> >   even has a 80% compatible alternative (or twenty). We hide this info
> >   in the removal request to ftpmasters and hope that users will eventually
> >   figure it out. Maybe. Lets hope they just reinstall.
> 
> The new solver is a bit silly there in that it will prefer to install
> a replacement if it's pulled in via a dependency on say a virtual
> package or or group :)

fwiw I meant things that have no clear upgrade path, like say:
ROM: emacs: dead upstream, low popcon, alternative: vim, kate, writer…

I don't consider 'obsolete' to really cut that here as this hides
important things the user uses inside a sea of old library versions
that they could more or less easily autoremove without issues.

Also, if the user has e.g. stable in its sources it takes ages for
a package to be considered 'obsolete' as its still somewhere.

And lastly it teaches users to hold the package, which is not usually
a good strategy for reasons they don't know without digging.


https://ftp-master.debian.org/removals.html usually has a couple
of examples at any given time. Noteworthy for different reasons
might be #1117525 (alternatives) and #1118045 (dangerous to keep
around) currently.


Best regards

David Kalnischkies

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