dpkg should warn when removed conffile is not reinstalled

Bug #622885 reported by Clint Byrum
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
dpkg (Debian)
New
Unknown
dpkg (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Wishlist
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: dpkg

This bug report demonstrates the confusion that occurs when a user has deleted or modified their config files in a way that breaks the maintainer scripts:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apache2/+bug/576255

In this case, apache2 can't be restarted, causing what looks like a really big error.

If any errors occur during maintainer scripts, a simple check would be berformed to see if conffiles have been changed, and if so, prompt the user to see the changes, and / or revert them (even if the conffiles in the new package haven't changed.)

Revision history for this message
Adam Conrad (adconrad) wrote :

As noted in the other bug, perhaps a nice bit of verbosity on dpkg's part would curb a lot of these "I deleted everything, but it didn't come back, I don't understand" issues.

Something like, as we encounter deleted conffiles, printing:

"Not reinstating deleted conffile /path/to/file because --force-conf-miss not used" or something like that.

Yeah, it would be a bit chatty, but most people wouldn't see it all that often, and the people who do things like "rm -rf /etc/apache2 && apt-get --reinstall install apache2\*" might see it flash by enough times to understand what's going on?

Changed in dpkg (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Triaged
summary: - users should be warned that they have locally changed conffiles when
- maintainer scirpts fail
+ dpkg should warn when removed conffile is not reinstalled
Changed in dpkg (Debian):
status: Unknown → New
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.