Process to remove "abandoned" packages?

[Vít Ondruch]

Hi,

I have removed last use of rubygem-memcache-client package in Fedora 
minutes ago:

https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/rubygem-rack/c/7490abe4066b965d222764a...

and I think that rubygem-memcache-client would deserve to be retired 
from Fedora, because it is deprecated upstream for ~12 years and it 
functionality replaced by rubygem-dalli.

However, if I really wanted to do this, I'd need to ask Mo, possibly use 
unresponsive maintainer policy. But that is too much hassle, so I'll 
probably leave it alone.

But I'd really love to see some process to get such packages removed in 
much easier way. E.g.:


1. Open FESCo ticket with the request request

2. Send email to Fedora devel ML to collect feedback

3. Within some timeout, make a decision based on the feedback

4. Orphan package, which gives some additional time to take the package 
or even resurrect the package if it turns out to be needed.


Thoughts?


Vít

[Miro Hrončok]

On 09. 08. 22 12:20, Vít Ondruch wrote:
>  Hi,
>  
>  I have removed last use of rubygem-memcache-client package in Fedora minutes ago:
>  
>
> https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/rubygem-rack/c/7490abe4066b965d222764a...
>
>  
>  
>  and I think that rubygem-memcache-client would deserve to be retired from 
>  Fedora, because it is deprecated upstream for ~12 years and it functionality 
>  replaced by rubygem-dalli.
>  
>  However, if I really wanted to do this, I'd need to ask Mo, possibly use 
>  unresponsive maintainer policy. But that is too much hassle, so I'll probably 
>  leave it alone.
>  
>  But I'd really love to see some process to get such packages removed in much 
>  easier way. E.g.:
>  
>  
>  1. Open FESCo ticket with the request request
>  
>  2. Send email to Fedora devel ML to collect feedback 
I'd do this, cc the maintainer. Assume they agree / don't care if they don't 
argue against it.

>  3. Within some timeout, make a decision based on the feedback 
Use provenpacakger powers to retire the package.

That should follow the spirit of 
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fesco/Who_is_allowed_to_modify_which...



-- 
Miro Hrončok
-- 
Phone: [phone]
IRC: mhroncok

[Vít Ondruch]

Dne 09. 08. 22 v 12:29 Miro Hrončok napsal(a):
>  On 09. 08. 22 12:20, Vít Ondruch wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have removed last use of rubygem-memcache-client package in Fedora 
> > minutes ago:
> >
> >
> https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/rubygem-rack/c/7490abe4066b965d222764a...
>
> >
> >
> > and I think that rubygem-memcache-client would deserve to be retired 
> > from Fedora, because it is deprecated upstream for ~12 years and it 
> > functionality replaced by rubygem-dalli.
> >
> > However, if I really wanted to do this, I'd need to ask Mo, possibly 
> > use unresponsive maintainer policy. But that is too much hassle, so 
> > I'll probably leave it alone.
> >
> > But I'd really love to see some process to get such packages removed 
> > in much easier way. E.g.:
> >
> >
> > 1. Open FESCo ticket with the request request
> >
> > 2. Send email to Fedora devel ML to collect feedback
>
>  I'd do this, cc the maintainer. Assume they agree / don't care if they 
>  don't argue against it.
>
> > 3. Within some timeout, make a decision based on the feedback
>
>  Use provenpacakger powers to retire the package.
>  

You can't retire package with provenpackager powers. If that was 
possible, I'd probably do that.

And also, I really think that it would be enough to orphan the package 
and the rest of the process has been well established already.


Vít


>  That should follow the spirit of 
>
> https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fesco/Who_is_allowed_to_modify_which...
>
>
>
>

[Miro Hrončok]

On 09. 08. 22 13:06, Vít Ondruch wrote:
>  
>  You can't retire package with provenpackager powers. If that was possible, I'd 
>  probably do that. 
Actually, you can.

-- 
Miro Hrončok
-- 
Phone: [phone]
IRC: mhroncok

[Mattia Verga]

Il 09/08/22 13:21, Miro Hrončok ha scritto:
>  On 09. 08. 22 13:06, Vít Ondruch wrote:
> > You can't retire package with provenpackager powers. If that was possible,
> I'd
> > probably do that.
>  Actually, you can.
>  
Yep, you can, but then the package will be in a "weird" state. I've
actually retired a few packages on behalf of the former maintainer, but
now the packages are retired but not orphaned and only the maintainer
can orphan them (or I should file a ticket).

BTW, it would be nice if the package list in src.fp.o could be filtered
out of retired packages so that users can focus on current owned
packages. Or, maybe, users should be able to remove themselves from
commit/collaborator rights (actually only admins can add / remove users
and groups).

Mattia

[Fabio Valentini]

On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 5:30 PM Mattia Verga via devel
<devel(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt; wrote:
>  Il 09/08/22 13:21, Miro Hrončok ha scritto:
>  > On 09. 08. 22 13:06, Vít Ondruch wrote:
>  >> You can't retire package with provenpackager powers. If that was possible,
> I'd
>  >> probably do that.
>  > Actually, you can.
>  >
>  Yep, you can, but then the package will be in a "weird" state. I've
>  actually retired a few packages on behalf of the former maintainer, but
>  now the packages are retired but not orphaned and only the maintainer
>  can orphan them (or I should file a ticket). 
That is not a weird state at all, but the intended outcome.
Just because a package will be removed from rawhide (and / or
branched) does not mean that the maintainer does not want to continue
maintaining it in stable branches.

We already have a policy that orphans packages that are retired on
*all branches*, which seems to be what you want.
But orphaning a package that is retired in rawhide but still
maintained in stable branches ... not an intended outcome, in my
opinion.

>  BTW, it would be nice if the package list in src.fp.o could be
> filtered
>  out of retired packages so that users can focus on current owned
>  packages. Or, maybe, users should be able to remove themselves from
>  commit/collaborator rights (actually only admins can add / remove users
>  and groups). 
Fabio

[Vít Ondruch]

Dne 09. 08. 22 v 13:21 Miro Hrončok napsal(a):
>  On 09. 08. 22 13:06, Vít Ondruch wrote:
> >
> > You can't retire package with provenpackager powers. If that was 
> > possible, I'd probably do that.
>
>  Actually, you can.
>
>  
Ah, I have not realized that I probably can use `fedpkg retire`, but I'd 
be worried about side effects as Mattia noted in other parts of this thread.

Nevertheless, I'd still prefer to orphan the packages instead. I think 
this gives backup opportunity if something goes wrong.

I'll probably try to draft some policy and propose it to FESCo.



Vít

[Miroslav Suchý]

Dne 09. 08. 22 v 12:20 Vít Ondruch napsal(a):
>  However, if I really wanted to do this, I'd need to ask Mo, possibly use unresponsive
> maintainer policy. But that is 
>  too much hassle, so I'll probably leave it alone.  
Seems to me like similar process to what you suggests. The timeout will be likely the
same.

Miroslav