def METHOD_NAME(self, primdir):
    primjson = primdir + '__primitives__.json'
    if os.path.isfile(primjson):
        with open(primjson) as fp:
            pdata = json.load(fp)
            fp.close()
            if not len(pdata): pdata = dict()
            for m in self._removedmodules:
                if len(m) == 2: pdata[m[0]] = {"abstract_template_name": m[0], "concrete_template_name": m[0]}
            if len(self._removedmodules):
                shutil.copy(primjson, primjson + '.bkp')
                with open(primjson, 'wt') as ofp:
                    json.dump(pdata, ofp, indent = 2)
    else:
        print(f'{primjson} not found')
        return False
    return True