GNU bug report logs - #29586
Please revert change to package deletion

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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: "John Wiegley" <johnw <at> gnu.org>
Cc: adam <at> alphapapa.net, 29586 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#29586: Please revert change to package deletion
Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2017 12:47:55 +0200

> From: "John Wiegley" <johnw <at> gnu.org>
> Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2017 16:46:13 -0800
> Cc: 29586 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> >>>>> "AP" == Adam Porter <adam <at> alphapapa.net> writes:
> 
> AP> The original bug report complained of, "cluttering the user's trash can."
> AP> This is a very poor justification for the change that was made, to claim
> AP> that the *trash can* is being cluttered. The trash can is the designated
> AP> receptacle for such clutter, and is designed to be emptied with a single
> AP> action. I cannot fathom real users lamenting that their *trash can* is
> AP> cluttered with *trash*.
> 
> I tend to agree with Adam on this point. As a user, I'd prefer such things to
> accumulate in my trash so that I could undo them; I really don't care what's
> in the trash, just that's useful for undeleting things. Most operating systems
> provide ways to periodically tidy up the trash, so I'm somewhat surprised that
> a bug was issued to this fact.

The problem is that many users have their packages auto-updated, so
the trash piles up quite quickly.

The usual justification for trash is that you may be inadvertently
deleting something precious.  Here we are talking about downgrading to
a previous version of a package, which, while perhaps somewhat
inconvenient, is not impossible.  So why fill up the user's trash with
stuff that can be recovered "by other means"?

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