Removing a package from unstable

[Ole Streicher <olebole@debian.org>]

Hi,

I have a source package (python-astropy) that I now want to remove from
unstable. I took care that all reverse dependencies were removed now in
recent uploads. As suggested in [1], I first issued

$ ssh mirror.ftp-master.debian.org "dak rm -Rn python-astropy"

to see whether it would run without errors. The output is however:

-----------------------------------8<--------------------------------------
Will remove the following packages from unstable:

astropy-utils |    1.2.1-1 | all
python-astropy |    1.2.1-1 | source
python-astropy |    2.0.9-1 | source, amd64, arm64, armel, armhf, hurd-i386, i386, kfreebsd-amd64, kfreebsd-i386, mips, mips64el, mipsel, ppc64el, s390x
python-astropy-doc |    1.2.1-1 | all
python3-astropy | 1.2.1-1+b1 | hurd-i386

Maintainer: Debian Astronomy Maintainers <debian-astro-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>

------------------- Reason -------------------

----------------------------------------------

Checking reverse dependencies...
# Broken Depends:
aplpy: python-aplpy
       python3-aplpy
astlib: python3-astlib
[...]

# Broken Build-Depends:
aplpy: python3-astropy
astrodendro: python3-astropy (>= 0.2.0)
[...]
pyregion: python-astropy
          python3-astropy
[...]

Dependency problem found.
-----------------------------------8<--------------------------------------

In total, more than 50 mpackages are listed. Many of them because of the
python3-astropy (build) dependency in hurd (which is unavoidable to
break, but that is not a release platform anyway); but also a lot of old
cruft. I though that this would be removed automatically?

So what is the correct way now to get the package removed?

Best regards

Ole

[1] https://wiki.debian.org/ftpmaster_Removals