test(cuda.core): track the numba_debug removal in the release checklist

The version-gated `test_numba_debug_removal_is_due_at_2_0` fails the
build the moment `cuda.core.__version__` crosses 2.0. That bump lands on
an ordinary release-prep PR during code freeze, so the test turns red at
the worst possible time and is indistinguishable from a real regression
to anyone who did not write it.

Drop it, and put the reminder where release managers already look:

- Remove the test and the now-unused `import cuda.core`.
- Add a release-checklist item to sweep deprecations whose stated removal
  version has arrived, with matching guidance in RELEASE-core.md.

The sweep greps `deprecated::` rather than `\.\. deprecated::` so it also
catches the two `Device.max_links` sites, which spell the directive
`.. version-deprecated::`.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: rparolin

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/release_checklist.yml

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ body:
         - label: File an internal nvbug to communicate test plan & release schedule with QA
         - label: Ensure all pending PRs are reviewed, tested, and merged
         - label: Check (or update if needed) the dependency requirements
+        - label: Sweep deprecations whose stated removal version has arrived (`grep -rn 'deprecated::' cuda_core/cuda`) and remove any that are due
         - label: "Finalize the doc update, including release notes (\"Note: Touching docstrings/type annotations in code is OK during code freeze, apply your best judgement!\")"
         - label: Update the docs for the new version
         - label: Create a public release tag

.github/RELEASE-core.md

@@ -66,6 +66,27 @@ requirements are current.
 
 ---
 
+## Sweep deprecations whose removal version has arrived
+
+Deprecated APIs are marked in the source with a Sphinx `deprecated`
+directive naming the version that introduced the deprecation, and their
+docstrings state the version in which they will be removed. Find them all
+with:
+
+```console
+$ grep -rn 'deprecated::' cuda_core/cuda
+```
+
+For each hit, check the stated removal version against the version being
+released. If the release has reached or passed it, remove the API, its
+runtime `DeprecationWarning`, and any tests asserting that warning.
+
+This must happen *before* the release tag is cut. Removals are breaking
+changes, so they are only permitted at a major-version boundary per the
+[support policy](https://nvidia.github.io/cuda-python/cuda-core/latest/support.html).
+
+---
+
 ## Finalize the doc update, including release notes
 
 Review every PR included in the release. For each one, check whether new

cuda_core/tests/test_linker.py

@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-import cuda.core
 from cuda.core import Device, Linker, LinkerOptions, Program, ProgramOptions, _linker
 from cuda.core._module import ObjectCode
 from cuda.core._program import _can_load_generated_ptx
@@ -438,25 +437,6 @@ def test_prepare_driver_options_unsupported_raises(driver_binding, kwargs, match
         opts._prepare_driver_options()
 
 
-@pytest.mark.agent_authored(model="claude-opus-5")
-def test_numba_debug_removal_is_due_at_2_0():
-    """Forcing function for the deprecation queued in #2640.
-
-    ``LinkerOptions.numba_debug`` is deprecated in 1.2.0 and must be removed at
-    the next major-version boundary. Nothing else in the repo tracks a scheduled
-    removal -- the existing precedent (``Device.max_links``) only says "a future
-    release" -- so this test fails the build the moment the version crosses 2.0,
-    rather than letting a dead field survive into the 2.x line unnoticed.
-    """
-    major = int(cuda.core.__version__.split(".")[0])
-    if major >= 2:
-        pytest.fail(
-            "cuda.core is now 2.x: remove the deprecated LinkerOptions.numba_debug field, "
-            "its __post_init__ DeprecationWarning, and this test."
-        )
-    assert hasattr(LinkerOptions(arch="sm_80"), "numba_debug")
-
-
 @pytest.mark.agent_authored(model="claude-opus-5")
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("value", [True, False])
 def test_numba_debug_warns_and_is_ignored(value):