Puppetmaster-passenger will not start after reinstalling due to libapache2-mod-passenger

[Glenn Aaldering]

As requested by Micah Gersten:

When purging and installing puppetmaster-passenger again it wont start. This is somehow due to a2enmod passenger which is not executed properly. The output of the second install is attached as logfile since thats where this bug shows up.

Howto reproduce on fresh ubuntu precise machine:
1: aptitude install puppetmaster-passenger
2: aptitude purge puppetmaster-passenger
3: aptitude install puppetmaster-passenger.

First install: apache2 is installed togheter with libapache2-mod-passenger. The install script of libapache2-mod-passenger will make sure a2enmod passenger is executed.
First purge: libapache2-mod-passenger gets removed, and mod-passenger is disabled (apache2 is not removed though)
Second install: libapache2-mod-passenger is installed again, but not enabled.

The workaround to properly reinstall without running into problems is to completely remove puppetmaster-passenger and libapache2-mod-passenger:

1: aptitude install puppetmaster-passenger
2: aptitude purge puppetmaster-passenger
3: aptitude purge libapache2-mod-passenger
4: aptitude install puppetmaster-passenger

As far as I can see the problem is that when puppetmaster-passenger is purged the dependency libapache2-mod-passenger doesnt get properly removed. The next time puppetmaster-passenger is installed the dependency mod-passenger wont get enabled. Im not sure if this is a bug in the dependency control, or a bug in the install/remove scripts from libapache2-mod-passenger.

[James Page (james-page)]

Hi Glenn

I've been able to reproduce this issue using aptitude, but not apt.

Aptitude automatically removes (rather than purges) libapache2-mod-passenger when you purge puppetmaster-passenger.

As a result when you re-install puppetmaster-passenger (and hence libapache2-mod-passenger) it re-run the postinst script for libapache2-mod-passenger but it incorrect assumes that an upgrade is happening and exits before it re-enables the passenger module.

Marking 'Confirmed' and 'Low' - as you state the workaround of purging libapache2-mod-passenger works fine.

Also re-assigning to the passenger package as this is not a puppet problem.

[James Page (james-page)]

libapache2-mod-passenger postinst script incorrectly assumes that if a version number is passed in its an upgrade - but that actually means 'last configured version' which as the package was not purged was the same version.