ppa-purge fails when repo disappeared

[UBUCATZ]

nthe ppa-purge command fails to remove a repo when the repo is not only anymore. here is an example:

root@ubuntu:~# ppa-purge ppa:gophers/go
Updating packages lists
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/gophers/go/ubuntu/dists/trusty/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/gophers/go/ubuntu/dists/trusty/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Warning: apt-get update failed for some reason
PPA to be removed: gophers go
Warning: Could not find package list for PPA: gophers go

yes, I KNOW that the repo is down - that is exactly the reason why I want to remove it. ppa-purge should handle this situation in a different way.

[davidak (davidak)]

i installed this repo as suggested by the website. unfortunetly there is no trusty release. so i want to delete it but it don't work with ppa-purge:

# ppa-purge ppa:openshot.developers/ppa
Updating packages lists
W: Fehlschlag beim Holen von http://ppa.launchpad.net/openshot.developers/ppa/ubuntu/dists/trusty/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found

E: Einige Indexdateien konnten nicht heruntergeladen werden. Sie wurden ignoriert oder alte an ihrer Stelle benutzt.
Warning: apt-get update failed for some reason
PPA to be removed: openshot.developers ppa
Warning: Could not find package list for PPA: openshot.developers ppa

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Unfortunately that is not possible, ppa-purge requires the package index from the PPA to determine which packages to downgrade/remove.

There are other ways you can clean up these cases, but they are a bit messy and would require manual intervention, but try searching for removing orphan packages.