[SOLVED] Safe to remove superseded packages?

In the past, when I've upgraded from one Slackware version to another, there's been a list of packages that have been removed from the distribution and so can/should be removed.

For the first time, I've recently started using -current, mostly on a hope and a prayer that it might fix something (the maps at weather.com would crash Firefox), which it did so yay that. However, I've noticed (from browsing the change log, looking at timestamps in /var/log/packages, etc.) that there have been a number of packages that appear to have been superseded from my 14.2 installation (which was kept up-to-date right up until the switch to -current). The list of packages to remove in UPGRADE.TXT refers to packages that have been removed from 14.1 to 14.2, so it doesn't appear that there is an up-to-date list of packages it is safe to remove.

So given that, am I best off keeping those seemingly-superseded packages around or can I safely remove them? If I do remove them, do I need to worry that files from other packages (presumably the ones that superseded them) will be removed?

Have a look at the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.txt file on your favorite mirror. This documents all the additions and removals since 14.2.

*** PACKAGE ADDITIONS SINCE 14.2 ***

a/efivar
a/f2fs-tools
a/haveged
a/hostname (split from n/net-tools)
a/lbzip2
a/lhasa (replaces a/lha)
a/lzlib
a/mlocate (replaces a/slocate)
a/openssl10-solibs (compat libraries for openssl-1.0.2)
a/plzip
ap/dash (replaces ap/ash)
ap/man-db (replaces ap/man)
ap/sc-im (replaces ap/sc)
ap/opus-tools
ap/xorriso
d/check
d/gcc-brig
d/gcc-gdc
d/gnucobol (replaces d/gnu-cobol)
d/icecream
d/parallel
d/patchelf
d/python-pip
d/python3
d/opencl-headers
d/rust
d/vala
l/Mako
l/SDL2
l/SDL2_gfx
l/SDL2_image
l/SDL2_mixer
l/SDL2_net
l/SDL2_ttf
l/argon2
l/ffmpeg
l/fluidsynth
l/fuse3
l/gexiv2
l/gnome-themes-extra (replaces l/gnome-themes-standard)
l/graphite2
l/gst-plugins-libav
l/id3lib
l/isl
l/jansson
l/jmtpfs
l/json-glib
l/lame
l/libbluray
l/libclc
l/libedit
l/libidn2
l/libopusenc
l/libpsl
l/libsodium
l/libunwind
l/libwebp
l/lmdb
l/mozjs60 (replaced l/js185)
l/ocl-icd
l/oniguruma
l/opus
l/opusfile
l/pyparsing
l/python-appdirs
l/python-certifi
l/python-chardet
l/python-docutils
l/python-idna
l/python-notify2
l/python-packaging
l/python-ply
l/python-requests
l/python-sane
l/python-six
l/python-urllib3
l/speex
l/tdb
l/tevent
l/talloc
l/utf8proc
l/zstd
n/dovecot
n/libmilter
n/nghttp2
n/npth
n/openssl10 (compat development package for openssl-1.0.2)
n/postfix
n/s-nail (replaces mailx)
n/sshfs
n/wireless_tools (renamed from n/wireless-tools)
t/fig2dev (replaces t/transfig)
t/texlive (replaces t/tetex and t/tetex-doc)
x/igt-gpu-tools (replaces x/intel-gpu-tools)
x/intel-vaapi-driver (replaces x/libva-intel-driver)
x/libXfont2
x/libglvnd
x/libinput
x/libmypaint
x/libva-utils
x/libwacom
x/mypaint-brushes
x/ttf-tlwg
x/urw-core35-fonts-otf
x/vulkan-sdk
x/xf86-input-libinput
x/xf86-video-vboxvideo
x/xorgproto (replaces all of the other x/*proto packages)
xap/easytag
xap/ffmpegthumbnailer
xap/rxvt-unicode (replaces xap/rxvt)
extra/sendmail/* (moved from main tree)


*** PACKAGE REMOVALS SINCE 14.2 ***

a/eject (included in a/util-linux)
a/getty-ps (moved to /extra)
a/lha (replaced by a/lhasa)
a/slocate (replaced by a/mlocate)
ap/ash (replaced by ap/dash)
ap/man (replaced by ap/man-db)
ap/sc (replaced by ap/sc-im)
ap/workbone
d/gcc-java
d/gnu-cobol (replaced by d/gnucobol)
l/gnome-themes-standard (replaced by l/gnome-themes-extra)
l/herqq
l/libart_lgpl
l/libmowgli
l/libmcs
l/libmsn
l/libtermcap
l/libwmf-docs (merged with l/libwmf)
l/js185 (replaced with l/mozjs60)
l/notify-python (replaced by python-notify2)
l/pyrex
l/seamonkey-solibs
l/virtuoso-ose
n/dirmngr
n/idnkit
n/imapd
n/mailx (replaced by n/s-nail)
n/pth
n/rfkill (included in a/util-linux)
n/sendmail (moved to /extra ; replaced by n/postfix and n/libmilter)
n/sendmail-cf (moved to /extra ; replaced by n/postfix and n/libmilter)
n/trn
n/wireless-tools (renamed to n/wireless_tools)
t/tetex (replaced by t/texlive)
t/tetex-doc (replaced by t/texlive)
t/transfig (replaced by t/fig2dev)
x/bigreqsproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/compositeproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/damageproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/dmxproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/dri2proto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/dri3proto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/evieext (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/fixesproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/fontcacheproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/fontsproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/glproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/inputproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/intel-gpu-tools (replaced by x/igt-gpu-tools)
x/kbproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/libXfont (deprecated)
x/libva-intel-driver (replaced by x/intel-vaapi-driver)
x/mkfontdir (absorbed into x/mkfontscale)
x/presentproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/printproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/randrproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/recordproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/renderproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/resourceproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/scrnsaverproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/videoproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xcmiscproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xextproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86-video-xgi (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86-video-xgixp (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86bigfontproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86dgaproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86driproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86miscproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xf86vidmodeproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xineramaproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
x/xproto (replaced by x/xorgproto)
xap/rxvt (replaced by xap/rxvt-unicode)
xap/xfractint (moved to /extra)
xap/xv (moved to /extra)
extra/bittorrent/bittorrent
extra/mplayerplug-in/mplayerplug-in

There were also a few new users/groups added:

*** NEW USERS/GROUPS SINCE 14.2 ***

cgred group, GID 41
ntp user and group, UID and GID 44
postfix user and group, UID and GID 91
postdrop group, GID 92
dovecot user and group, UID and GID 94
dovenull user and group, UID and GID 95

Ah, thanks--I was looking in the wrong file, then.

Is is safe to remove those packages listed as "removed" (that is, doing so won't remove "overlapping" files from other packages), then?

Yes, it's perfectly safe to do so. removepkg is smart enough to only remove files when they don't exist in any other packages.

Excellent, thanks!