Bug#744923: notify user about services to be restarted (checkrestart-like)

[Thijs Kinkhorst <thijs@debian.org>]

Package: apt
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

When library packages are upgraded, services using those libraries need
to be restarted for the change to take effect. A default Debian installation
does nothing to inform the user about that. Some packages have implemented
their own service restarting check in postinst, all done differently and
as in the case of OpenSSL based on an ever incomplete list. The recent
security issue in the latter has again proven the importance of such
functionality.

checkrestart exists to handle this case, but it's not installed by default,
nor is it run automatically when it is.

It makes sense to me that such a task is handled by a high level package
manager. Having such functionality in the package manager would definitely
improve the security of a Debian system.

Is this something you'd consider?


Cheers,
Thijs