Re: lintian and (non-)conffiles in /etc
On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, Atsuhito Kohda wrote:
> > Yes. If you include a configuration file (and thus any /etc file) inside the
> > .deb, it MUST be marked a conffile.
>
> I doubt this. On the contrary, Policy says as follows;
>
> The distinction between these two is important; they are not
> interchangeable concepts. Almost all `conffile's are configuration
> files, but many configuration files are not `conffiles'.
It says nothing about files shipped inside .debs. Many configuration files
are not conffiles, but in that case they must NOT be shipped within a deb,
they must be created by maintainer scripts.
If you manage to convince me policy says otherwise, I will have a policy
proposal to fix such an atrocious failure by the next day -- we have already
changed policy to make damn sure it was against policy to ship stuff in /etc
not marked as conffiles.
It is a sadistic QA failure to have stuff inside a deb that goes in /etc and
is not marked as a conffile (you will be called a moron or worse by people
rightfully pissed at their configuration files being silently overwritten),
and a LARTable QA serious offense to change anything marked as a conffile in
maintainer scripts (because dpkg will keep annoying the users at every
upgrade -- see past incarnations of the lynx (and I'm ashamed to say, my own
fetchmail) package for reference).
> I guess that the lintian's message
> N: Files in /etc must be marked conffiles if they are included in a
> N: package. Otherwise they should be created by maintainer scripts.
> N:
> N: Refer to Policy Manual, section 11.7 for details.
>
> is a bug of lintian. Furthemore, the recent feature of dh_installdeb
No, it is not. Well, actually, there is a technical error there: files in
/etc may be created by just about anything, including the user, and there's
nothing wrong with it.
--
"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Henrique Holschuh
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