Re: debconf as a registry
Bas Wijnen <wijnen@debian.org> writes:
> What this means, is that every package which asks debconf questions (and
> stores the answers in a configuration file) will need to:
> 1. Parse the configuration file, if it exists, and set the values as
> defaults before asking the questions. (in the config script)
> 2. Update the values in the configuration file. (in the postinst script)
> Currently, many packages only do 2, and that is wrong.
And those packages are all buggy, and whenever you encounter one, please
do file a bug and get that package fixed. I've fixed this bug in various
packages over time, including some of my own.
I agree with Joey that a package's own maintainer scripts should be
responsible for parsing the package's configuration files. There are too
many possible cases that will come up over time, such as a need to migrate
one value to another, and the package should be an expert in its own
configuration syntax.
It's the package's responsibility to read debconf-based data back from the
persistent store and treat that as a maintainer override. Policy is quite
explicit about this.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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