kdm postrm script fails if /etc/init/kdm.conf missing

[Matthias Andree]

Binary package hint: kdm

The kdm postrm script, if used to purge a configuration, calls "rm /etc/init/kdm.conf". This fails if the file is already missing, effectively preventing a "purge". Please change the command to "rm -f /etc/init/kdm.conf".

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: kdm (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-28.50-generic 2.6.35.11
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-28-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon May 2 12:43:16 2011
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: kdebase-workspace

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Why would the file be missing?

[Matthias Andree (matthias-andree)]

Stop being difficult, I don't know why the file was missing. It doesn't matter. There simply is not a single reasonable excuse for a postrm script to fail when rm(1)-ing an already missing file. Needless hassle for the user, and your question is no good either.

Do note:

 1. dpkg --purge is a last-resort that people need if packages are screwed. File system damage, system admin accident, whatever.

 2. I don't care to discuss obvious and trivial fixes to real-world problems.

[Matthias Andree (matthias-andree)]

Note this bug does not affect natty. I haven't checked lucid.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Clearly you already thought of the possibility that another bug could inflict this problem or that a change in the system at large brought this upon us and consequently eliminated those as possible root causes. Smart thinking on your side. Thank you for that and for suggesting an addition to what appears to be magically disappearing code [1]. It appears the code in question is a bit of a unicorn, one minute it is there and the next it is gone. We better watch out for that, we wouldn't want the devil to come looking all over our maintainer scripts for the unicorn to slay it. Woo, now I am scared.

Duplicate of 634707.
Ah, right, not so obvious and trivial now, eh? Thanks for being so nice and helping us find the problem.

[1] http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~kubuntu-packagers/kdebase-workspace/ubuntu/revision/473

[Matthias Andree (matthias-andree)]

Irony and prose aside, I didn't feel like digging up all possible factors, and I've never packaged dpkg myself, so I'm unaware of both Ubuntu and Debian policies as well as the dpkg common practice WRT config file removals. Possibly some postinst script used to create /etc/init/kdm.conf unbeknownst to dpkg's, once upon a time.

Anyways, if the fix is removing duplicate non-idempotent functionality, fine.