Bug#2831: timezone conffiles vs. postinst

[Mark Eichin <eichin@cygnus.com>]

> Could you please explain why you think that /etc/passwd from the base package
> and /etc/timezone from the timezone package should behave differently?

Personally, I think /etc/passwd is handled wrong as it is now. I can't
imagine a situation where you'd actually *want* to update /etc/passwd
from the package...  if adduser were completely general, the base
postinst should just adjust things using adduser (treating the file as
a database) and create an empty one as a special case of not having
one in the first place (or the real install kit could create one.)

Not that I'm sure I understand all the issues involved... I do like
the way the X config is handled now, though -- grep'ing through a user
config file, allowing configuration without touching the rc
scripts. Perhaps it could be written up in guidelines an example of
how to do things the "right" way?