[Bug 1725861] [NEW] APT::AutoRemove::SuggestsImportant "false" should be the default

[Steve Langasek]

Public bug reported:

After an upgrade to 17.10, I took a look at how much cruft I had
accumulated on my system, and started marking various packages 'auto'
which I know I don't care about keeping installed.

apt autoremove didn't remove nearly as much stuff as I expected, and as
I dug down into some of them I found that a number of them were being
kept because other packages on the system have Suggests: referencing
them.

This is asymmetric and wrong.  If Suggested packages are not
automatically installed by default, then a Suggests should also not
prevent a package from being automatically removed.

After a web search led me to 'https://askubuntu.com/questions/351085
/how-to-remove-recommended-and-suggested-dependencies-of-uninstalled-
packages', I set 'APT::AutoRemove::SuggestsImportant "false"' in my apt
config; apt autoremove now wants to remove 365MiB of packages from my
system.  That is a LOT of cruft that has accumulated over the years of
upgrades, none of which I have ever asked to be installed and all of
which were universe or no-longer-available packages.

** Affects: apt (Ubuntu)
     Importance: High
         Status: New


** Tags: rls-bb-incoming

** Changed in: apt (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => High

** Tags added: rls-bb-incoming

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to apt in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1725861

Title:
  APT::AutoRemove::SuggestsImportant "false" should be the default

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  After an upgrade to 17.10, I took a look at how much cruft I had
  accumulated on my system, and started marking various packages 'auto'
  which I know I don't care about keeping installed.

  apt autoremove didn't remove nearly as much stuff as I expected, and
  as I dug down into some of them I found that a number of them were
  being kept because other packages on the system have Suggests:
  referencing them.

  This is asymmetric and wrong.  If Suggested packages are not
  automatically installed by default, then a Suggests should also not
  prevent a package from being automatically removed.

  After a web search led me to 'https://askubuntu.com/questions/351085
  /how-to-remove-recommended-and-suggested-dependencies-of-uninstalled-
  packages', I set 'APT::AutoRemove::SuggestsImportant "false"' in my
  apt config; apt autoremove now wants to remove 365MiB of packages from
  my system.  That is a LOT of cruft that has accumulated over the years
  of upgrades, none of which I have ever asked to be installed and all
  of which were universe or no-longer-available packages.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1725861/+subscriptions