[Distutils] Policy for deleting packages, releases, and artifacts

[Jimmy Jia]

Hi,

Just following up on this proposal. I really do think it would be
beneficial to have limits on package deletion.

Thanks,
Jimmy Jia

On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 10:50 PM Jimmy Jia <tesrin at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> This is moved over from
> https://github.com/pypa/packaging-problems/issues/112.
>
> Currently, PyPI has no limitations around deleting packages, releases,
> or artifacts. This can be problematic for users, as user builds can
> break in an unsolicited manner if a dependency is removed from PyPI.
>
> In the Node ecosystem, a similar lack of limitations there caused
> significant problems about a year and a half ago, when a widely-used
> package was deleted following a dispute:
> http://blog.npmjs.org/post/141577284765/kik-left-pad-and-npm,
> http://blog.npmjs.org/post/141905368000/changes-to-npms-unpublish-policy.
> At the time, the scope of the impact was characterized as "breaking
> the world".
>
> To resolve this, npm adopted a policy where package deletions (there's
> no distinction between a release and an artifact there) could only be
> done for the first 24 hours after a release was published. Deletions
> after the 24 hour mark require contacting npm support, and are
> contingent on the absence of dependents for the deleted release.
>
> Of course, npm is a venture-backed for-profit enterprise that has a
> paid support team – that's not the case here, so the "support" half of
> the solution above doesn't make sense here. However, as a starting
> point, it might still be a good idea to restrict package deletion
> after that 24-hour window.
>
> At least, in the examples given in the links above, the deletion of
> old packages is strictly a nice-to-have for the package maintainers,
> balanced against potentially breaking impacts for users.
>
> Thanks in advance for any feedback.
>
> Thanks,
> Jimmy Jia
>
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