Bug#1139257: autoremoval box does not explain removal

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On Sun, Jun 07, 2026 at 08:39:08PM +0200, Drew Parsons wrote:
>The tracker page for fenics-dolfinx at https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/feni=
cs-dolfinx
>currently includes an autoremoval box in "action needed" reporting that fe=
nics-dolfinx
>is Marked for autoremoval due to getfem.
>
>But the provided reason is not sufficient for taking any action (beyond fi=
xing getfem itself,
>which is not always practical).

In practice if fixing getfem itself is not a solution for you, you should=
=20
do nothing as it's unlikely you will be willing to remove deps from your=20
package to break the chain.

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

Assuming this is true and by "depend" you also mean "build-depend", you=20
just need to go deeper.

>The message box adds the weasel word 'transitively':  "depends (transitive=
ly) on getfem".
>But what does that mean?=20

I'm surprised this question is asked from time to time, because it looks=20
obvious to me, but maybe it's enough to not
understand that when a package is autoremoved, everything that=20
(build-)depends on it is removed recursively.

>Again, no package that fenics-dolfinx depends on depends on getfem.

What about packages that depend on packages that fenics-dolfinx depends=20
on?

>How I am supposed to interpret this adverb 'transitively'.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transitive meaning 2.

>This instruction to autoremove "(transitively)" must come from somewhere.
>It's not pixie dust sprinkled over the packages just to annoy package deve=
lopers.

I'm also surprised, but not that much, that some maintainers are so=20
frustrated by this feature.

>How does tracker know that this package is marked for autoremoval?
>Where does the knowledge about this autoremoval come from?

I assume it's https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/autoremovals.cgi or an=20
equivalent source.

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

To my knowledge there is no page where the chain(s) between the RC-buggy=20
package and it's (transitive) revdep are traced, you need to do it=20
manually.=20

--=20
WBR, wRAR

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