Re: Mass-remove zombie golang-*-dev sources before forky?

Simon Josefsson <[email protected]> Fri, 14 Aug 2026 21:44:38 +0200
Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.general
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
All,

I was reading the Developers reference about mass bug filing

https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/beyond-pkging.en.html#reporting-lots-of-bugs-at-once-mass-bug-filing

and wonder how that interact with removing large number of packages from
the archive, which would involve a large number of ftp-master RM bugs.

I've prepared a list of Go source/library packages (i.e., a Debian
source package providing a single golang-*-dev binary containing source
code for building other packages) that have no reverse dependencies in
Debian.  There are 205 packages dated 2020 or earlier, which are
candidates for removal:

https://salsa.debian.org/go-team/infra/golang-qa-find-zombies/-/jobs/10136666#L141

There is discussion in the Debian Go team about what to do about these
packages, and there is early agreement that they could be removed to
reduce the precious QA time that is needed to get all the Go packages in
shape before forky.  We are spending QA time to keep these packages on
continued life support.  We could just actively kill them instead, if we
establish some mechanism to identify them.  The assumption is that
shipping golang-*-dev packages has too low usefulness for users of
Debian to motivate the cost of keeping them.

Is it acceptable to keep filing manually curated per-package bugs asking
for removal, even if the number is above 10 packages?

Above 100?

The bugs would be manually prepared and curated, and I doubt anyone will
manage to file more than 10-20 per day.

Is there any other way to remove a large number of packages other than
one ftp-master bug per package?

While further manual pruning of the list is necessary to establish a
good criteria when to remove a package, I'm certain that we talk about
at least 100 packages that could/should be removed.  I went through an
earlier version of the list earlier today, and the first packages I
looked all seemed like reasonable candidates for removal so I filed
ftp-master RM bugs on them.  Review appreciated if anyone thinks these
should be kept:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940346
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940347
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940379
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940391
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940407
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940430
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=940432
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1004303
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1144378
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1144379
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1144380
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1144381
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1144382

I didn't want to keep filing more without debian-devel@ discussion after
reading the section about mass bug filing.

Thoughts?  Any other concerns that we didn't think about?

Below is a list of packages that needs further manual checking.  See
code in https://salsa.debian.org/go-team/infra/golang-qa-find-zombies if
anyone wants to review or contribute.  There are more packages from
2021-2026 too, but I started with packages older than 2020 first.

/Simon

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-godebiancontrol-dev
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-go-xdg
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ugorji-go-msgpack
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-rakyll-globalconf
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-airbrake-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-vaughan0-go-ini
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-robfig-config
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-pathtree
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-stevvooe-resumable
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-spf13-nitro
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-yosssi-ace-proxy
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-qor-inflection
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-tent-canonical-json-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ttacon-chalk
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-stvp-go-udp-testing
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-olivere-elastic.v2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-xyproto-simpleredis
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-inconshreveable-muxado
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-influxdb-enterprise-client
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-tent-http-link-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-xmlpath.v2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-dchest-cssmin
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-akrennmair-gopcap
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-go-macaron-session
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kimor79-gollectd
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-pierrec-xxhash
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-clusterhq-flocker-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-coreos-ioprogress
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-dylanmei-winrmtest
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-svent-go-flags
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-svent-go-nbreader
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-skarademir-naturalsort
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-odeke-em-cache
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-odeke-em-command
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-cznic-ql
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-docker-leadership
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-samalba-dockerclient
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-stacktic-dropbox
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-twstrike-otr3
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-pivotal-golang-clock
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-go-chef-chef
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-btcsuite-btcd-btcec
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-blevesearch-go-porterstemmer
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-steveyen-gtreap
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ngaut-go-zookeeper
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ngaut-pools
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-quobyte-api
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-go-macaron-toolbox
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-petar-gollrb
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-lunny-log
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-editorconfig-editorconfig-core-go.v1
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-testfixtures.v2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-calmh-du
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-minio-dsync
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-viki-org-dnscache
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-issue9-identicon
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ngaut-log
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-siddontang-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-thomsonreuterseikon-go-ntlm
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-pault-go-gecos
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-pault-go-technicolor
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mvo5-uboot-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-miekg-mmark
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-bkaradzic-go-lz4
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kotakanbe-logrus-prefixed-formatter
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-markbates-goth
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-emicklei-go-restful-swagger12
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-bsm-redeo
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kotakanbe-go-pingscanner
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-gtank-cryptopasta
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-nebulouslabs-go-upnp
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-templexxx-reedsolomon
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-calmh-luhn
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hashicorp-raft-boltdb
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mitchellh-multistep
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-fatih-pool.v2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-juju-retry
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ymomoi-goval-parser
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-nlopes-slack
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-facebookgo-pidfile
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-weaveworks-mesh
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-coreos-gexpect
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-googleapis-gnostic
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-gcfg.v1
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jimstudt-http-authentication
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-smira-go-aws-auth
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jhoonb-archivex
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-araddon-gou
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-gobuffalo-envy
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-knqyf263-go-cpe
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-evilsocket-ftrace
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-vimeo-go-magic
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-tcnksm-go-gitconfig
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-confluentinc-confluent-kafka-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-freddierice-go-losetup.v1
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-audriusbutkevicius-go-nat-pmp
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-cloudfoundry-gosigar
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-go-xorm-builder
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-influxdata-tdigest
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-influxdata-line-protocol
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-htcat-htcat
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-grokify-html-strip-tags-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jfbus-httprs
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-oxtoacart-bpool
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-influxdata-wlog
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-flynn-json5
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-teris-io-shortid
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-crossdock-crossdock-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gitlab-lupine-go-mimedb
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ruudk-golang-pdf417
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kori-go-listenbrainz
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-minio-blake2b-simd
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-facebookgo-inject
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-getlantern-hidden
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hashicorp-go-safetemp
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-apparentlymart-go-rundeck-api
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hmrc-vmware-govcd
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-alcortesm-tgz
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-heroku-rollrus
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-yourbasic-graph
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ryanuber-go-glob
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-badgerodon-collections
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-knqyf263-go-version
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-knqyf263-nested
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mcuadros-go-gin-prometheus
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hansrodtang-randomcolor
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-go-playground-colors.v1
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-abdullin-seq
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-centurylinkcloud-clc-sdk
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ensighten-udnssdk
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mitchellh-go-linereader
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-nesv-go-dynect
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-sethvargo-go-fastly
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-src-d-go-billy.v4
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mcuadros-go-lookup
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jackc-fake
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hashicorp-go-raftchunking
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-lk4d4-joincontext
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mesos-mesos-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hashicorp-go-discover
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jefferai-jsonx
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-pearkes-dnsimple
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-soniah-dnsmadeeasy
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-pearkes-cloudflare
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hashicorp-go-bexpr
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ulule-limiter
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-seandolphin-bqschema
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-throttled-throttled
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-olivere-elastic.v5
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hawkular-hawkular-client-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-svanharmelen-jsonapi
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mssola-user-agent
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-karrick-godirwalk
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-errgo.v1
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-gopkg-errgo.v2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-goji-httpauth
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-bowery-prompt
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-euank-go-kmsg-parser
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-vbom-util
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-joyent-gosdc
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-audriusbutkevicius-pfilter
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-bifurcation-mint
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-robfig-go-cache
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-shurcool-gopherjslib
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-yvasiyarov-newrelic-platform-go
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kyoh86-xdg
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-crewjam-httperr
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-zenhack-go.notmuch
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-ddevault-go-libvterm
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-cloudflare-sidh
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-sean--pager
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-sean--seed
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-timberio-go-datemath
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-cloudflare-tableflip
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-optiopay-kafka
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-abeconnelly-autoio
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-benbjohnson-immutable
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-approvals-go-approval-tests
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mitchellh-go-fs
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mitchellh-go-vnc
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mitchellh-panicwrap
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mitchellh-prefixedio
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-xlzd-gotp
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-alexcesaro-log
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-shenwei356-bpool
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-dkolbly-wl
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kelvins-sunrisesunset
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jaguilar-vt100
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-c-bata-go-prompt
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-revel-revel
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-creekorful-mvnparser
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-mattetti-filebuffer
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-phpdave11-gofpdi
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-cnf-structhash
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-deanthompson-ginpprof
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-zenazn-goji
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-zorkian-go-datadog-api
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-zclconf-go-cty-yaml
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-knqyf263-go-deb-version
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jamiealquiza-tachymeter
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-logrusorgru-grokky
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-filosottile-b2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-jonas-p-go-shp
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-nf-cr2
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-hjfreyer-taglib-go
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