could not open /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat: Permission denied

[dino99]

Due to strange terminal output after latest debconf (1.5.66) upgrade ( lp:1752394 ) i have installed debconf-utils to run 'debconf-get-selections' and 'debconf-set-selections', but:

oem@ubuntu:~$ debconf-set-selections
debconf: DbDriver "passwords" warning: could not open /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat: Permission denied

oem@ubuntu:~$ ls -l /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat
-rw------- 1 root root 0 Dec 1 18:35 /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat

So the configuration is badly set. This also have been reported some times ago (precise) lp:959364
but nobody care on the canonical side.

Needs to run 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure debconf' to set the minimal required.
https://github.com/phusion/baseimage-docker/issues/58

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: debconf-utils 1.5.66
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-11.12-generic 4.15.5
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-11-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.8-0ubuntu10
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Thu Mar 1 10:05:12 2018
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: debconf
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.