Re: Removing packages perhaps too aggressively?

[Adrian Bunk <bunk@debian.org>]

On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 10:40:19PM +0100, Michael Biebl wrote:
> 
> I think we should remove cruft more aggressively then we currently do.

I think it would be bad to move even more to a revolving door 
situation where we are adding packages to a stable release only
to remove them in the next stable release.

For users it is a problem when packages they use disappear in a new
stable release.

> We are much too lenient with what we ship in our stable releases.

But RM is the wrong side to attack this problem.

Typically a removed package is not in a much worse shape when it got 
removed compared to when it was first shipped in a stable release.[1]

At that point the actual question is why we did allow the package
to be ITP'ed into Debian at all.

cu
Adrian

[1] from a user perspective

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed