postinst scripts failing because a new conffile wasn't accepted: Is it a bug?
Hi,
assume that an update to a package brings in a changed conffile, and
because the local admin had changed the conffile, he is asked, and he
refuses to accept the changed version.
Because one of the changes in the new version was crucial for the
function of the program, the postinst script fails to initialize it, and
the whole installation process fails.
In my opinion this is not a bug (except if the package is crucial for
the system to work and be reachable, like ssh) - the local admin simply
has to review the changes to conffiles that dpkg requested, and have a
look at NEWS.Debian and changelog.Debian. If these files do not contain
enough information to fix the system, then this is a bug, right? But
the simple fact that a postinst script fails because a change has been
refused isn't - and for sure it is not a serious or grave bug,
severities often used when a postinst fails.
Opinions?
TIA, Frank
--
Frank Küster
Inst. f. Biochemie der Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer
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