Re: Empty package to facilitate upgrades, can be safely removed. Really?

[David Z Maze <dmaze@debian.org>]

Dan Jacobson <jidanni@jidanni.org> writes:

> # apt-cache show fileutils
> Description: The GNU file management utilities (transitional package)
>  Empty package to facilitate upgrades, can be safely removed.
>
> # apt-get remove fileutils
> The following packages will be REMOVED:
>   alsa-modules-2.4.18-k7 fileutils kernel-doc-2.4.18 kernel-doc-2.4.19 kernel-headers-2.4.18
>   kernel-headers-2.4.18-k7 kernel-headers-2.4.19-k7 kernel-image-2.4.18-k7
>   kernel-image-2.4.19-k7 kernel-pcmcia-modules-2.4.18-k7 kernel-source-2.4.18
> After unpacking 183MB disk space will be freed.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
>
> I don't know.  Do I?  It said "safely be removed". Is this safe?

I think you have pretty much all of the information there to make your
own decision.  The "transition" packages generally exist to accomodate
things that might have versioned dependencies upon them; if something
depends on fileutils (>= 3.3.2), something else that provides
fileutils will never satisfy the dependency.

If it were me, I'd just mark the transition package as auto-installed
in aptitude ('M') and let aptitude remove it when nothing else depends
on it.

-- 
David Maze         dmaze@debian.org      http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/
"Theoretical politics is interesting.  Politicking should be illegal."
	-- Abra Mitchell