== Removals ==

While it is always preferable to fix a package, rather than drop it, there are rare cases when a universe package becomes actively detrimental in stable releases: If it is unmaintained in Ubuntu and has unfixed security issues or has been broken because of changing network protocols/APIs, it is better to stop offering it in Ubuntu altogether rather than continuing to encourage users to install it.

It is not technically possible to remove a package from a stable release, but this can be approximated by SRUing an essentially empty package with an appropriate explanation in `NEWS` and a corresponding critical debconf note.

When a package is removed in this way from a stable release, it may need similar removal from the devel release as well, depending on the justification for removal.

Such a package removal should have an SRU tracking bug with an appropriate explanation, and needs to get confirmed by the [[https://launchpad.net/~techboard|Technical Board]]. Once removed, the SRU bug should be added to the "Previous Removals" list below.

Previous Removals:
 * [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2007-September/024453.html|tor]] (was reintroduced later on in [[https://launchpad.net/bugs/413657|#413657]])
 * [[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bitcoin/+bug/1314616|bitcoin]]
 * [[https://launchpad.net/bugs/1384355|owncloud]]