3

In this question , I see three choices:

  1. Dangerous answers — Remove system python

  2. Answer buried in comments — This is a widely known bug

  3. Convert 2 above to an answer.

    3a. Left as is it becomes a link-only answer.
    3b. Padding with unnecessary explanation – seems gratuitous and superfluous.

What is the policy?

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

I deleted the dangerous answer. Thanks for pointing it out. Next time, it would be better to flag the answer with a custom mod flag, explaining what the issue is. Dangerous answers should be removed and flagging is thee fastest way.

As for fearing the link only answer, the main thing about such answers is that if the link doesn't work, they become useless. So if you simply copy the relevant information from the bug's page, so that the answer can stand alone without the link, then you'll be fine.

6
  • I'll skip this one if you don't mind 😇. Because my comments if any will be too acerbic for the fandom. Basically buck passing between debian and python to the extent that even wrong and dangerous error messages are "the other guys problem"
    – Rusi
    Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 3:46
  • Stephen Kitt disagrees with you. unix.stackexchange.com/a/491645/5132
    – JdeBP
    Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 9:40
  • @JdeBP I don't see why. Stephen is talking about Debian, not Ubuntu. Removing Python is a well established way of breaking Ubuntu systems. See askubuntu.com/questions/384033 or the dozens of similar questions. If you want to suggest that as a solution, you should at least explain the dangers and how to avoid them. The deleted question did not.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 9:59
  • You even point to several more people disagreeing with you. (-: You say "After reboot you won't be able to install anything.". Those four people give step by step instructions showing how one indeed can install things. As M. Kitt said, Python of either version is not a dependency for dpkg or APT.
    – JdeBP
    Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 19:27
  • @JdeBP it is, however, a dependency for gnome, the default on Ubuntu and for the Ubuntu software center which is what most Ubuntu users use to install software. In any case, as I said above, an answer that explains how to do this safely would be fine. One that tells you to blindly remove ALL python versions and then reboot is not fine. Feel free to post an answer showing how to do this properly.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 20:11
  • @JdeBP I wrote that answer in a specific context: “What parts of Debian base install requires python2, python3, perl, bluetooth?”
    – Stephen Kitt
    Commented Aug 19, 2020 at 9:56

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