diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 4d869f7..e4ed883 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -580,9 +580,6 @@
 		args.getopt("nodeps", &m_nodeps, [
 			"Do not check/update dependencies before building"
 		]);
-		args.getopt("force-remove", &m_forceRemove, [
-			"Force deletion of fetched packages with untracked files when upgrading"
-		]);
 		args.getopt("build-mode", &m_buildMode, [
 			"Specifies the way the compiler and linker are invoked. Valid values:",
 			"  separate (default), allAtOnce, singleFile"
@@ -590,6 +587,9 @@
 		args.getopt("single", &m_single, [
 			"Treats the package name as a filename. The file must contain a package recipe comment."
 		]);
+		args.getopt("force-remove", &m_forceRemove, [
+			"Deprecated option that does nothing."
+		]);
 	}
 
 	protected void setupPackage(Dub dub, string package_name, string default_build_type = "debug")
@@ -1104,15 +1104,15 @@
 		args.getopt("prerelease", &m_prerelease, [
 			"Uses the latest pre-release version, even if release versions are available"
 		]);
-		args.getopt("force-remove", &m_forceRemove, [
-			"Force deletion of fetched packages with untracked files"
-		]);
 		args.getopt("verify", &m_verify, [
 			"Updates the project and performs a build. If successful, rewrites the selected versions file <to be implemeted>."
 		]);
 		args.getopt("missing-only", &m_missingOnly, [
 			"Performs an upgrade only for dependencies that don't yet have a version selected. This is also done automatically before each build."
 		]);
+		args.getopt("force-remove", &m_forceRemove, [
+			"Deprecated option that does nothing."
+		]);
 	}
 
 	override int execute(Dub dub, string[] free_args, string[] app_args)
@@ -1125,7 +1125,6 @@
 		auto options = UpgradeOptions.upgrade|UpgradeOptions.select;
 		if (m_missingOnly) options &= ~UpgradeOptions.upgrade;
 		if (m_prerelease) options |= UpgradeOptions.preRelease;
-		if (m_forceRemove) options |= UpgradeOptions.forceRemove;
 		enforceUsage(free_args.length == 0, "Upgrading a specific package is not yet implemented.");
 		dub.upgrade(options);
 		return 0;
@@ -1146,7 +1145,7 @@
 		]);
 
 		args.getopt("force-remove", &m_forceRemove, [
-			"Force deletion of fetched packages with untracked files"
+			"Deprecated option that does nothing"
 		]);
 	}
 
@@ -1193,7 +1192,6 @@
 
 		FetchOptions fetchOpts;
 		fetchOpts |= FetchOptions.forceBranchUpgrade;
-		fetchOpts |= m_forceRemove ? FetchOptions.forceRemove : FetchOptions.none;
 		if (m_version.length) dub.fetch(name, Dependency(m_version), location, fetchOpts);
 		else {
 			try {
@@ -1280,9 +1278,9 @@
 		}
 
 		if (m_nonInteractive || !m_version.empty)
-			dub.remove(package_id, m_version, location, m_forceRemove);
+			dub.remove(package_id, m_version, location);
 		else
-			dub.remove(package_id, location, m_forceRemove, &resolveVersion);
+			dub.remove(package_id, location, &resolveVersion);
 		return 0;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/source/dub/dub.d b/source/dub/dub.d
index 0290694..9592933 100644
--- a/source/dub/dub.d
+++ b/source/dub/dub.d
@@ -427,14 +427,13 @@
 				{
 					// TODO: only re-install if there is actually a new commit available
 					logInfo("Re-installing branch based dependency %s %s", p, ver.toString());
-					m_packageManager.remove(pack, (options & UpgradeOptions.forceRemove) != 0);
+					m_packageManager.remove(pack);
 					pack = null;
 				}
 			}
 
 			FetchOptions fetchOpts;
 			fetchOpts |= (options & UpgradeOptions.preRelease) != 0 ? FetchOptions.usePrerelease : FetchOptions.none;
-			fetchOpts |= (options & UpgradeOptions.forceRemove) != 0 ? FetchOptions.forceRemove : FetchOptions.none;
 			if (!pack) fetch(p, ver, defaultPlacementLocation, fetchOpts, "getting selected version");
 			if ((options & UpgradeOptions.select) && p != m_project.rootPackage.name) {
 				if (ver.path.empty) m_project.selections.selectVersion(p, ver.version_);
@@ -662,7 +661,7 @@
 				return existing;
 			} else {
 				logInfo("Removing %s %s to prepare replacement with a new version.", packageId, ver);
-				if (!m_dryRun) m_packageManager.remove(existing, (options & FetchOptions.forceRemove) != 0);
+				if (!m_dryRun) m_packageManager.remove(existing);
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -707,13 +706,17 @@
 
 		Params:
 			pack = Package instance to remove
-			force_remove = Forces removal of the package, even if untracked
-				files are found in its folder.
 	*/
-	void remove(in Package pack, bool force_remove)
+	void remove(in Package pack)
 	{
 		logInfo("Removing %s in %s", pack.name, pack.path.toNativeString());
-		if (!m_dryRun) m_packageManager.remove(pack, force_remove);
+		if (!m_dryRun) m_packageManager.remove(pack);
+	}
+	
+	/// Compatibility overload. Use the version without a `force_remove` argument instead.
+	void remove(in Package pack, bool force_remove)
+	{
+		remove(pack);
 	}
 
 	/// @see remove(string, string, RemoveLocation)
@@ -729,11 +732,9 @@
 			package_id = Name of the package to be removed
 			location_ = Specifies the location to look for the given package
 				name/version.
-			force_remove = Forces removal of the package, even if untracked
-				files are found in its folder.
 			resolve_version = Callback to select package version.
 	*/
-	void remove(string package_id, PlacementLocation location, bool force_remove,
+	void remove(string package_id, PlacementLocation location,
 				scope size_t delegate(in Package[] packages) resolve_version)
 	{
 		enforce(!package_id.empty);
@@ -766,7 +767,7 @@
 		logDebug("Removing %s packages.", packages.length);
 		foreach(pack; packages) {
 			try {
-				remove(pack, force_remove);
+				remove(pack);
 				logInfo("Removed %s, version %s.", package_id, pack.version_);
 			} catch (Exception e) {
 				logError("Failed to remove %s %s: %s", package_id, pack.version_, e.msg);
@@ -775,6 +776,13 @@
 		}
 	}
 
+	/// Compatibility overload. Use the version without a `force_remove` argument instead.
+	void remove(string package_id, PlacementLocation location, bool force_remove,
+				scope size_t delegate(in Package[] packages) resolve_version)
+	{
+		remove(package_id, location, resolve_version);
+	}
+
 	/** Removes a specific version of a package.
 
 		Params:
@@ -785,12 +793,10 @@
 				exception, if there are multiple versions retrieved.
 			location_ = Specifies the location to look for the given package
 				name/version.
-			force_remove = Forces removal of the package, even if untracked
-				files are found in its folder.
 	 */
-	void remove(string package_id, string version_, PlacementLocation location, bool force_remove)
+	void remove(string package_id, string version_, PlacementLocation location)
 	{
-		remove(package_id, location, force_remove, (in packages) {
+		remove(package_id, location, (in packages) {
 			if (version_ == RemoveVersionWildcard)
 				return packages.length;
 			if (version_.empty && packages.length > 1) {
@@ -812,6 +818,12 @@
 		});
 	}
 
+	/// Compatibility overload. Use the version without a `force_remove` argument instead.
+	void remove(string package_id, string version_, PlacementLocation location, bool force_remove)
+	{
+		remove(package_id, version_, location);
+	}
+
 	/** Adds a directory to the list of locally known packages.
 
 		Forwards to `PackageManager.addLocalPackage`.
@@ -1117,7 +1129,7 @@
 	none = 0,
 	forceBranchUpgrade = 1<<0,
 	usePrerelease = 1<<1,
-	forceRemove = 1<<2,
+	forceRemove = 1<<2, /// Deprecated, does nothing.
 	printOnly = 1<<3,
 }
 
@@ -1127,7 +1139,7 @@
 	none = 0,
 	upgrade = 1<<1, /// Upgrade existing packages
 	preRelease = 1<<2, /// inclde pre-release versions in upgrade
-	forceRemove = 1<<3, /// Force removing package folders, which contain unknown files
+	forceRemove = 1<<3, /// Deprecated, does nothing.
 	select = 1<<4, /// Update the dub.selections.json file with the upgraded versions
 	printUpgradesOnly = 1<<5, /// Instead of downloading new packages, just print a message to notify the user of their existence
 	useCachedResult = 1<<6, /// Use cached information stored with the package to determine upgrades
@@ -1361,7 +1373,6 @@
 				try {
 					FetchOptions fetchOpts;
 					fetchOpts |= prerelease ? FetchOptions.usePrerelease : FetchOptions.none;
-					fetchOpts |= (m_options & UpgradeOptions.forceRemove) != 0 ? FetchOptions.forceRemove : FetchOptions.none;
 					m_dub.fetch(rootpack, dep, m_dub.defaultPlacementLocation, fetchOpts, "need sub package description");
 					auto ret = m_dub.m_packageManager.getBestPackage(name, dep);
 					if (!ret) {
diff --git a/source/dub/packagemanager.d b/source/dub/packagemanager.d
index 8b87637..00054b9 100644
--- a/source/dub/packagemanager.d
+++ b/source/dub/packagemanager.d
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@
 	}
 
 	/// Removes the given the package.
-	void remove(in Package pack, bool force_remove)
+	void remove(in Package pack)
 	{
 		logDebug("Remove %s, version %s, path '%s'", pack.name, pack.version_, pack.path);
 		enforce(!pack.path.empty, "Cannot remove package "~pack.name~" without a path.");
@@ -445,6 +445,12 @@
 		logInfo("Removed package: '"~pack.name~"'");
 	}
 
+	/// Compatibility overload. Use the version without a `force_remove` argument instead.
+	void remove(in Package pack, bool force_remove)
+	{
+		remove(pack);
+	}
+
 	Package addLocalPackage(Path path, string verName, LocalPackageType type)
 	{
 		path.endsWithSlash = true;