Bug#1139257: autoremoval box does not explain removal

Drew Parsons <[email protected]> Sun, 07 Jun 2026 20:39:08 +0200
Newsgroups gmane.linux.debian.devel.quality-assurance
Message-ID <178085754807.52236.7341806411682887869.reportbug__34617.6296284952$1780857686$gmane$org@gelly.emerall.com>
Package: tracker.debian.org
Severity: normal

The tracker page for fenics-dolfinx at https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/fenics-dolfinx
currently includes an autoremoval box in "action needed" reporting that fenics-dolfinx
is Marked for autoremoval due to getfem.

But the provided reason is not sufficient for taking any action (beyond fixing getfem itself,
which is not always practical).

fenics-dolfinx does not depend on getfem,
and no package that fenics-dolfinx depends on depends on getfem.

The message box adds the weasel word 'transitively':  "depends (transitively) on getfem".
But what does that mean?  Again, no package that fenics-dolfinx depends on depends on getfem.
How I am supposed to interpret this adverb 'transitively'.

This instruction to autoremove "(transitively)" must come from somewhere.
It's not pixie dust sprinkled over the packages just to annoy package developers.
How does tracker know that this package is marked for autoremoval?
Where does the knowledge about this autoremoval come from?

If the reason (the transitive dependency) can't fit in the tracker info box itself,
then please at least provide a link to a page where this remove-due-to-transitive-dependency
is documented, so we can review why an unrelated package is triggering autoremoval.