azldev-remove-component

name	azldev-remove-component
description	Read this before deleting or dropping a component; there is no azldev remove command, so doing it wrong leaves dangling state. Explains the manual removal workflow for deleting component metadata, cleaning references, and validating any related output-affecting changes. Triggers include remove component, delete package, drop component, prune dependency.

Remove a component

There is no azldev command to remove a component — it is a manual edit. A deletion-only change needs no package build, but changes to dependents, package/image configuration, or other built inputs must follow the repository's normal validation requirements. The steps below delete the component's definition, lock, and rendered spec, then clean up references.

Before you start

Confirm the component exists and inspect its resolved configuration:

azldev comp list -p <name> -q -O json

Check for reverse dependencies first: if other components BuildRequires or Requires this one, removing it breaks their builds. Search the tree for the component name. Identify its binary subpackage names from the rendered output under specs/<first-char>/<name>/, then search for those names too. azldev comp query currently supports local spec sources only, not the usual upstream spec source.

Steps

1. Remove the definition. Delete the component's dedicated <name>/<name>.comp.toml directory, or remove its inline [components.<name>] entry from whichever included TOML defines it.

2. Remove publish / package config references. If your project configures publish channels or package groups, drop any references to the component or to its binary subpackages. Publishing is component-scoped; per-binary exceptions are binary-RPM-scoped — search for both.

3. Remove the lock. There is no azldev command for this:

   rm locks/<name>.lock
   

4. Remove the rendered spec. Let azldev prune orphaned spec directories:

   azldev comp render -a --clean-stale
   

   --clean-stale (only valid with -a) removes rendered-spec directories that no longer correspond to a configured component. It re-renders everything, so it is slow; for a targeted removal you can instead delete the component's rendered spec under specs/ by hand.

5. Check other references. Grep for the component (and its binary names) in image definitions and any *.kiwi / package-list files, and remove or replace them — an image that installs a now-removed package will not build.

Verify

azldev comp list -p <name> -q -O json   # should report the component is not found

Also confirm the lock and rendered spec directory are gone and that no image or package configuration still references the component.

If the removal required changes to dependents or package/image configuration, build and test the affected outputs according to the repository's normal validation policy.

Notes

• Dependents with manual release. If removing this component forces a change in a dependent (e.g. dropping a BuildRequires), and that dependent sets release.calculation = "manual", bump its release counter yourself in the same change. Components with automatic release calculation (auto, autorelease, static) are handled by the normal commit/render/amend cycle.
• Remove exclusive dependencies together. If a package is only needed by the component you are dropping, remove it in the same change to keep the tree consistent.

Generated by azldev docs agent; do not hand-edit. Generated for azldev version v0.3.0.