By reading documentation available to developers, I came to these both
excerpts of the debconf-devel(7) manpage explaining the debconf
protocol and data types:
Type
The type of the template determines what kind of widget is
displayed to the user. The currently supported types are:
.../...
note
Rather than being a question per se, this datatype indicates a
note that can be displayed to the user. It should be used only
for important notes that the user really should see, since
debconf will go to great pains to make sure the user sees it;
halting the install for them to press a key, and even mailing the
note to them in some cases. It's best to use these only for
warning about very serious problems.
.../...
INPUT priority question
Ask debconf to prepare to display a question to the user. The
question is not actually displayed until a GO command is issued;
this lets several INPUT commands be given in series, to build up a
set of questions, which might all be asked on a single screen.
The priority field tells debconf how important it is that this
question be shown to the user. The priority values are:
low Very trivial items that have defaults that will work in
the vast majority of cases; only control freaks see these.
medium Normal items that have reasonable defaults.
high Items that don't have a reasonable default.
critical
Items that will probably break the system without user intervention.
As a conclusion and combining both, I would really like to unsderstand
why so many fellow developers insist on using LOW priority NOTES in
their debconf templates and use them in maintainer scripts.
Most often these templates sound like an attempt to explain deep
technical....details which really should go to README.Debian or
NEWS.Debian depending on the topic.
In short, a note should only be used for IMPORTANT stuff, so actually
all debconf notes should be priority high....or should not exist!
Translating these notes requires often a big effort by translators. If
that effort is usually not visible (or very often not visible), it is
quite wasted.
Before launching a mass bug-filing campaign, I would like to get
fellow developers opinions. Would there be important objections to
such a campaign targeting first all packages using notes at low
priority, then those using notes at medium priority?
A specific check could of course be added to lintian, in the same
time, to prevent the re-development of such "mistakes" (if we decide
to call them this way).
The following data is courtesy of Thomas Huriaux who did all the black
magic extracting it:
Packages with low priority debconf notes:
-----------------------------------------
Aide Maintainers <pkg-aide-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
aide -- config:18 aide/setmailaddress
Alexis Sukrieh <sukria@debian.org>
backup-manager -- config:64 backup-manager/upload-user-scp-warning
Andreas Schuldei <andreas@debian.org>
webmin-ldap-user-simple -- config:18 webmin-ldap-skolelinux/no-auto-config
Andrés Roldán <aroldan@debian.org>
mtop -- config:86 mtop/info
Anton Zinoviev <zinoviev@debian.org>
kbedic -- postinst:34 kbedic/failed_download
Aurélien GÉRÔME <ag@roxor.cx>
hybserv -- config:6 hybserv/configure-hybrid-notice
Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
libraw1394-5 -- config:9 libraw1394/device_node
Camm Maguire <camm@enhanced.com>
atlas3-3dnow -- config:8 atlas3/ldlp
atlas3-3dnow -- config:9 atlas3/blas_lapack
atlas3-3dnow -- config:11 atlas3-3dnow/3dnow_extensions
atlas3-3dnow -- config:15 atlas3/nfs
atlas3-base -- config:10 atlas3/ldlp
atlas3-base -- config:11 atlas3/blas_lapack
atlas3-base -- config:12 atlas3/nfs
atlas3-sse2 -- config:6 atlas3/ldlp
atlas3-sse2 -- config:7 atlas3/blas_lapack
atlas3-sse2 -- config:11 atlas3-sse2/sse2_extensions
atlas3-sse2 -- config:15 atlas3/nfs
atlas3-sse -- config:6 atlas3/ldlp
atlas3-sse -- config:7 atlas3/blas_lapack
atlas3-sse -- config:10 atlas3-sse/sse_extensions
atlas3-sse -- config:14 atlas3/nfs
Davide G. M. Salvetti <salve@debian.org>
mailcrypt -- config:36 mailcrypt/alreadydefault
Debian QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org>
f-prot-installer -- postinst:28 f-prot-installer/failed
Debian logcheck Team <logcheck-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
logcheck-database -- config:17 logcheck-database/standard-rename-note
Debian tpctl maintainers <pkg-tpctl-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
tpctl -- config:8 tpctl/apmiser-installed
Eric Delaunay <delaunay@debian.org>
xtel -- config:7 xtel/fonts_note
Giuseppe Sacco <eppesuig@debian.org>
hylafax-server -- postinst:231 hylafax-server/configure_note
Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
fbset -- config:16 fbset/create_framebuffer_devices
xfstt -- config:13 xfstt/default_port_changed
Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pen~a <jfs@computer.org>
checksecurity -- postinst:8 checksecurity/oldconf
Jean-Michel Kelbert <kelbert@debian.org>
wflogs -- config:145 wflogs/email_more_questions
Mark Brown <broonie@debian.org>
leafnode -- config:85 leafnode/update-groupinfo
leafnode -- config:87 leafnode/update-groupinfo
powertweakd -- config:15 powertweak/creating_device_files
powertweakd -- config:23 powertweak/daemon_config
x86info -- config:11 x86info/create_device_files
Matthew Vernon <matthew@debian.org>
openssh-server -- config:61 ssh/insecure_telnetd
Nick Phillips <nwp@lemon-computing.com>
teapop -- config:38 teapop/already-passwd
teapop-ldap -- config:38 teapop/already-passwd
teapop-mysql -- config:38 teapop/already-passwd
teapop-pgsql -- config:38 teapop/already-passwd
Nicolas Boullis <nboullis@debian.org>
em8300 -- postinst:27 em8300/microcode/download_failed
Norbert Tretkowski <nobse@debian.org>
slrn -- config:72 slrn/manual_getdescs
slrnpull -- config:49 slrnpull/run_manual
Ola Lundqvist <opal@debian.org>
harden -- config:8 harden/welcome
Pascal Hakim <pasc@debian.org>
anacron -- config:11 anacron/jobs_in_crontab
Paul Slootman <paul@debian.org>
ipppd -- config:22 ipppd/wrongif
isdnvboxserver -- config:66 isdnvboxserver/doityourself
isdnvboxserver -- config:171 isdnvboxserver/doityourself
isdnvboxserver -- postinst:217 isdnvboxserver/spoolcreate
isdnvboxserver -- postinst:260 isdnvboxserver/spoolcreate
Pawel Wiecek <coven@debian.org>
libvpopmail-freecdb -- postinst:33 shared/vpopmail/enableplugin
libvpopmail-lmysql -- postinst:33 shared/vpopmail/enableplugin
libvpopmail-lmysql -- postinst:34 shared/vpopmail/mysqlconf
libvpopmail-mysql -- postinst:33 shared/vpopmail/enableplugin
libvpopmail-mysql -- postinst:34 shared/vpopmail/mysqlconf
Pierre Ancelot <eternityos@free.fr>
hwtools -- config:9 hwtools/no-scsi
Radovan Garabík <garabik@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk>
efingerd -- config:14 efingerd/note
karrigell -- config:12 karrigell/note
Roland Bauerschmidt <rb@debian.org>
colormake -- config:14 colormake/renamed
Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org>
ssh-krb5 -- config:72 ssh/insecure_telnetd
ssh-krb5 -- config:94 ssh/forward_warning
Stefan Hornburg (Racke) <racke@linuxia.de>
interchange -- config:172 interchange/cansoap
Takuo KITAME <kitame@debian.org>
mozilla-browser -- config:26 mozilla/prefs_note
Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@debian.org>
msttcorefonts -- config:73 msttcorefonts/blurb
Tomohiro KUBOTA <kubota@debian.org>
language-env -- config:6 language-env/installation_is_insufficient
Vivek Dasmohapatra <vivek@etla.org>
dbishell -- config:7 dbishell/dbiwarning
Volker Ossenkopf <ossk@ph1.uni-koeln.de>
workman -- postinst:28 workman/cdrom_link_created
workman -- postinst:38 workman/cdrom_gid_changed
workman -- postinst:47 workman/cdrom_perm_changed
xvmount -- postinst:84 xvmount/convert_succeeded
xvmount -- postinst:112 xvmount/generate_succeeded
Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org>
nbd-client -- config:17 nbd-client/no-auto-config
nbd-server -- config:13 nbd-server/autogen
Yu Guanghui <ygh@debian.org>
zhcon -- config:8 zhcon/rebuild_kernel
resolvconf maintainers <resolvconf-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
resolvconf -- config:33 resolvconf/bad-pppconfig-hook
resolvconf -- config:38 resolvconf/bad-pppconfig-hook
resolvconf -- config:42 resolvconf/bad-pppoeconf-hook
resolvconf -- config:46 resolvconf/bad-xisp-hook
resolvconf -- config:51 resolvconf/bad-xisp-hook
Packages with medium priority debconf notes:
--------------------------------------------
Aide Maintainers <pkg-aide-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
aide -- config:23 aide/mustaideinit
Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org>
mgetty-fax -- config:9 mgetty-fax/new_security_scheme
Andrés Roldán <aroldan@debian.org>
mtop -- config:81 mtop/mismatch
Anibal Monsalve Salazar <anibal@debian.org>
apmd -- config:42 apmd/hdparm-removed
Anton Zinoviev <zinoviev@debian.org>
console-cyrillic -- config:187 console-cyrillic/abusing_debconf
Arnaud Quette <aquette@debian.org>
nut -- config:29 nut/change_system_user
Aurelien Jarno <aurel32@debian.org>
libsensors3 -- config:12 libsensors3/old2.6kernel
libsensors3 -- config:20 libsensors3/nosensors_2.6
Bart Cornelis (cobaco) <cobaco@linux.be>
desktop-profiles -- config:15 desktop-profiles/replace-gconf-system-wide-path-file
desktop-profiles -- config:27 desktop-profiles/replace-gconf-system-wide-path-file
Bart Martens <bartm@knars.be>
flashplugin-nonfree -- config:20 flashplugin-nonfree/not_exist
Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
amanda-common -- config:10 amanda-common/merge_amandates
dump -- config:13 dump/dumpdates_is_a_symlink
dump -- config:19 dump/moving_from_etc_to_var
Camm Maguire <camm@enhanced.com>
lam-runtime -- config:10 lam-runtime/lam4
Carlo Contavalli <ccontavalli@debian.org>
wipl-client-java -- config:10 wipl-client-java/info
Christian Hammers <ch@debian.org>
mysql-server-5.0 -- config:15 mysql-server-5.0/mysql_install_db_notes
Christian Marillat <marillat@debian.org>
cricket -- config:13 cricket/config_tree_moved
Clément Stenac <zorglub@debian.org>
spong-client -- config:7 spong-client/init
Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>
trn4 -- config:89 trn4/whoami-change
Console utilities maintainers <pkg-kbd-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
console-setup -- config:1817 console-setup/dont_ask_layout
console-setup-mini -- config:1817 console-setup/dont_ask_layout
David B. Harris <dbharris@debian.org>
shaper -- config:33 shaper/kernel-modules
David Gil <dgil@telefonica.net>
phpgacl -- config:13 phpgacl/setup
Davide G. M. Salvetti <salve@debian.org>
auctex -- config:34 auctex/defaultchanged
Debian QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org>
f-prot-installer -- config:88 f-prot-installer/install_later
xapple2 -- config:8 xapple2/suid
Debian TeX maintainers <debian-tex-maint@lists.debian.org>
tetex-bin -- config:44 tetex-bin/cnf_name
tex-common -- config:48 tex-common/cnf_name
Debian logcheck Team <logcheck-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
logcheck -- config:14 logcheck/install-note
logcheck -- config:17 logcheck/changes
Debian tpctl maintainers <pkg-tpctl-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
tpctl -- config:7 tpctl/need-thinkpad-modules
Ed Boraas <ed@debian.org>
reiser4progs -- config:9 reiser4progs/new_disk_format
Elie Rosenblum <fnord@debian.org>
album -- config:6 album/info
Eloy A. Paris <peloy@debian.org>
dhcp3-client -- postinst:22 dhcp3-client/dhclient-script_moved
dhcp3-client -- postinst:25 dhcp3-client/dhclient-needs-restarting
Emmanuel Lacour <elacour@home-dn.net>
suphp-common -- config:14 suphp-common/upgrade0.6.0
Emmanuel le Chevoir <mms@debian.org>
xsmbrowser -- config:19 xsmbrowser/etc_dir
Eric Delaunay <delaunay@debian.org>
xtel -- config:10 xtel/ppp_note
Federico Di Gregorio <fog@debian.org>
nvidia-cg-toolkit -- config:20 nvidia-cg-toolkit/not_exist
Francesco Paolo Lovergine <frankie@debian.org>
aolserver4 -- config:9 aolserver4/introduction
Frank Küster <frank@kuesterei.ch>
netenv -- config:247 netenv/info_interfaces
netenv -- config:265 netenv/noconf
netenv -- config:267 netenv/twoconfs
Ganesan Rajagopal <rganesan@debian.org>
libslp1 -- config:12 libslp1/multicast
libslp1 -- config:21 libslp1/multicast-route
Giuseppe Sacco <eppesuig@debian.org>
hylafax-server -- postinst:221 hylafax-server/attachment
Gopal Narayanan <gopal@debian.org>
xplanet -- config:11 xplanet/Stable_Release
Guilherme de S. Pastore <gpastore@debian.org>
john -- config:20 john/no-replacement
Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
bochs -- config:10 bochs/bochsrc
Jamie Wilkinson <jaq@debian.org>
quake2-data -- config:66 quake2-data/shareinst
quake2-data -- config:70 quake2-data/fullinst
Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pen~a <jfs@computer.org>
euro-support -- config:6 euro-support/configuring
snort -- config:105 snort/please_restart_manually
snort -- config:114 snort/config_parameters
snort-mysql -- config:57 snort-mysql/needs_db_config
snort-mysql -- config:67 snort-mysql/config_parameters
snort-mysql -- config:75 snort-mysql/please_restart_manually
snort-pgsql -- config:56 snort-pgsql/needs_db_config
snort-pgsql -- config:66 snort-pgsql/config_parameters
snort-pgsql -- config:75 snort-pgsql/please_restart_manually
tiger -- config:7 tiger/policy_adapt
user-es -- config:11 user-es/configure-es
user-euro-es -- config:10 user-euro-es/configure-euro-es
Jesus Climent <jesus.climent@hispalinux.es>
rssh -- config:17 rssh/update-config-pre-2.2
Jon Marler <jmarler@debian.org>
qmail-src -- config:7 qmail-src/build
Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org>
gtk2-engines-spherecrystal -- config:22 gtk2-engines/restart_gtk_apps_for_svg
Juan Manuel Garcia Molina <juanma@debian.org>
facturalux -- config:10 facturalux/databasenote
Julien BLACHE <jblache@debian.org>
mcelog -- postinst:21 mcelog/unusable
LENART Janos <ocsi@debian.org>
mga-vid-common -- config:6 mga-vid-common/device_node_warning
Laszlo Boszormenyi (GCS) <gcs@debian.hu>
gradm2 -- config:9 gradm2/create_dev_grsec
Mario Lang <mlang@debian.org>
filterproxy -- config:9 filterproxy/readme
Mark Brown <broonie@debian.org>
leafnode -- config:92 leafnode/expireinfo
Martin Langhoff <martin@nzl.com.ar>
twig -- config:7 twig/minimal-setup
twig -- config:12 twig/db-update
Martin Loschwitz <madkiss@debian.org>
gidentd -- config:5 gidentd/default_daemon
Masayuki Hatta (mhatta) <mhatta@debian.org>
gtktrain -- config:7 gtktrain/get-train-schedule
Massimo Dal Zotto <dz@debian.org>
dpkg-www -- config:7 dpkg-www/update-apache-config
Matt Brown <debian@mattb.net.nz>
phpwiki -- postinst:284 phpwiki/notes/configupgrade
Mattia Dongili <malattia@debian.org>
cpufreqd -- config:17 cpufreqd/no_pm
cpufreqd -- config:26 cpufreqd/no_procfs_sysfs
Mediawiki Maintenance Team <pkg-mediawiki-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
mediawiki1.5 -- config:21 mediawiki/upgrade
mediawiki1.7 -- config:29 mediawiki/upgrade-1d4
Michael Biebl <biebl@teco.edu>
libsctp1 -- config:43 lksctp-tools/nosctp
Michael Holzt <michael-debian@holzt.de>
gwhois -- config:7 gwhois/oldfiles
Morgon Kanter <morgon@surgo.net>
vtun -- config:8 vtun/passwords
OHURA Makoto <ohura@debian.org>
ptex-jisfonts -- config:6 ptex-jisfonts/jisftconfig
Ola Lundqvist <opal@debian.org>
harden-clients -- config:8 harden-clients/plaintext
harden-servers -- config:8 harden-servers/plaintext
harden-servers -- config:10 harden-servers/inetd
harden-servers -- config:14 harden-servers/vncserver
harden-servers -- postinst:13 harden-servers/vncserver
Oliver Kurth <oku@debian.org>
masqmail -- config:29 masqmail/note_moved_tpl
masqmail -- config:176 masqmail/you_are_not_finished
Pascal Hakim <pasc@debian.org>
blosxom -- config:10 blosxom/old_cgi_file
Paul Martin <pm@debian.org>
radioclk -- config:20 radioclk/configure_ntp
Paul Telford <pxt@debian.org>
autolog -- config:4 autolog/note
Pawel Wiecek <coven@debian.org>
mp3info -- config:12 mp3info/newmp3info
mush-src -- config:7 mush-src/build
Pedro Zorzenon Neto <pzn@debian.org>
avrprog -- config:7 avrprog/suid_warning
Rene Engelhard <rene@debian.org>
muttprint -- config:34 muttprint/utf8
Rene Weber <rene_debmaint@public.e-mail.elvenlord.com>
dailystrips -- config:9 dailystrips/warning-etcdefs
Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org>
ssh-krb5 -- config:18 ssh/ssh2_keys_merged
Simon Law <sfllaw@debian.org>
wvdial -- config:66 wvdial/passphrases_mismatch
Stefan Hornburg (Racke) <racke@linuxia.de>
interchange -- config:77 interchange/usernoroot
interchange -- config:114 interchange/groupnoroot
Thomas Viehmann <tv@beamnet.de>
dput -- config:11 dput/config-file-format
Tim Cutts <timc@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
am-utils -- config:34 am-utils/log-to-file
Torsten Landschoff <torsten@debian.org>
ddclient -- config:57 ddclient/modifiedconfig
ddclient -- config:161 ddclient/newconfigfmt
Torsten Werner <twerner@debian.org>
ejabberd -- config:14 ejabberd/nomatch
Volker Ossenkopf <ossk@ph1.uni-koeln.de>
workman -- config:38 workman/no_block_device
workman -- postinst:30 workman/cdrom_link_failed
workman -- postinst:40 workman/cdrom_gid_failed
workman -- postinst:49 workman/cdrom_perm_failed
xvmount -- config:27 xvmount/wrong_format
xvmount -- postinst:82 xvmount/convert_failed
xvmount -- postinst:114 xvmount/generate_failed
Víctor Pérez Pereira <vperez@debianvenezuela.org>
squidguard -- config:14 squidguard/db
Wolfgang Sourdeau <was@debian.org>
lire -- config:57 lire/foundlocaluser
Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org>
logtool -- config:76 logtool/error-multiple
Xavier Luthi <xavier@caroxav.be>
b2evolution -- config:35 b2evolution/apache
b2evolution -- config:40 b2evolution/install_semi_manual
b2evolution -- config:44 b2evolution/install_manual
b2evolution -- config:60 b2evolution/apache
b2evolution -- config:64 b2evolution/install_auto
Yven Johannes Leist <leist@beldesign.de>
mueller7-dict -- postinst:51 mueller7-dict/no-utf-8-locale
resolvconf maintainers <resolvconf-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
resolvconf -- config:75 resolvconf/downup-interfaces
----- End forwarded message -----
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