slapd fails to stop if /etc/ldap/slapd.d/cn=config.ldif is deleted but /etc/ldap/slapd.d still exists

[Mahmut Boğaz]

after i install slapd and remove it's one of folders, couldnt do apt-get ugrade. It said problem about header

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: slapd 2.4.31-1+nmu2ubuntu8.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-95.142-generic 3.13.11-ckt39
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-95-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia wl
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
AptOrdering:
 ldap-utils: Remove
 slapd: Remove
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jul 4 15:22:00 2017
DistributionChannelDescriptor:
 # This is a distribution channel descriptor
 # For more information see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DistributionChannelDescriptor
 canonical-oem-somerville-trusty-amd64-20140620-0
DpkgHistoryLog:
 Start-Date: 2017-07-04 15:21:46
 Commandline: apt-get remove slapd ldap-utils
 Remove: ldap-utils:amd64 (2.4.31-1+nmu2ubuntu8.4), slapd:amd64 (2.4.31-1+nmu2ubuntu8.4)
DuplicateSignature: package:slapd:2.4.31-1+nmu2ubuntu8.4:subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-03 (761 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20140620-04:25
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.17.5ubuntu5.7
 apt 1.0.1ubuntu2.17
SourcePackage: openldap
Title: package slapd 2.4.31-1+nmu2ubuntu8.4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2016-05-30 (400 days ago)

[Ryan Tandy (rtandy)]

Hello,

Since you deleted all the contents out of the /etc/ldap/slapd.d folder, please delete that folder as well, then the uninstallation will proceed.

The init script could probably be more resilient about this.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

This is essentially a config change breaking the service (re)start. and due to that upgrades.
While the init could be more resilient it is not really a bug but a misconfiguration as identified by Ryan already.

Also the error message (these days) is not misleading at all (tried on cosmic):
  slapd[26348]: sed: can't read /etc/ldap/slapd.d/cn=config.ldif: No such file or directory

Which after deleting the file makes sense :-)

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

On upgrading a service this service has to be restarted to pick up the fixes.
Rather rarely a real issue occurs that the newer version does e.g. fail with the formerly working configuration.
But most of the time what happens is, that a service was installed, but stays unconfigured or experimented with but left in a broken state.

Now on any update of the related packages that service has to be restarted, but since its config is incomplete/faulty it fails to restart.
Therefore the update of that package has to consider itself incomplete.

Depending on your particular case there are two solutions:
- either remove the offending package if you don't want to continue using it.
- Or if you do want to keep it please fix the configuration so that re-starting the service will work.

Since it seems likely to me that this is a local configuration problem, rather than a bug in Ubuntu, I'm marking this bug as Incomplete.

If indeed this is a local configuration problem, you can find pointers to get help for this sort of problem here: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community

Or if you believe that this is really a bug, then you may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem, explain why you believe this is a bug in Ubuntu rather than a problem specific to your system, and then change the bug status back to New.