Okay to remove obsolete required packages like "base"?

[Mark Phillips <mark@ist.flinders.edu.au>]

I've just done an upgrade to slink, but when I go into dselect I
observe that there are a number of obsolete packages:

    --- Obsolete and local packages present on system ---
    ----- Obsolete/local Required packages -----
    ------- Obsolete/local Required packages in section base -------
 *__ Req base     base         1.1.0-14    <none>                              

 *** Req base     slang0.99.38 0.99.38-6   <none>
    ----- Obsolete/local Standard packages -----
    ------- Obsolete/local Standard packages in section devel -------
 *** Std devel    ncurses3.4-d 1.9.9g-8.10 <none>
    ------- Obsolete/local Standard packages in section mail -------
 *** Std mail     elm          2.4pl25-6   <none>
    ------- Obsolete/local Standard packages in section utils -------
 *** Std utils    lsof         4.28-3      <none>
    ----- Obsolete/local Optional packages -----
    ------- Obsolete/local Optional packages in section contrib/graphics 
-------
 *-- Opt contrib/ gdk-imlib-no 1.3-3       <none>
    ------- Obsolete/local Optional packages in section contrib/libs -------
 *** Opt contrib/ kdelibs0g    980312-5    <none>
    ------- Obsolete/local Optional packages in section games -------
 *** Opt games    filters      1.6         <none>
    ------- Obsolete/local Optional packages in section libs -------
 *** Opt libs     newt0.21     0.21-8      <none>
    ------- Obsolete/local Optional packages in section x11 -------
 *** Opt x11      xfntbig      3.3.2.3-2   <none>
    ----- Obsolete/local Extra packages -----
    ------- Obsolete/local Extra packages in section contrib/x11 -------
 *** Xtr contrib/ kdebase      980312-8    <none>

Can I purge them all?

Now when I try and purge "base", I get:

# dpkg --remove base 
dpkg: error processing base (--remove):
 This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Errors were encountered while processing:
 base

Now I presume I should do some kind of forced purge, but I'm a bit
reluctant to remove an "essential" package --- is it okay to do this?

Thanks,

Mark.




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