Re: pager and upgrades

[Thomas Goirand <zigo@debian.org>]

On 2/27/20 3:53 AM, Nicholas D Steeves wrote:
> Hi Russell,
> 
> Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au> writes:
> 
>> I just upgraded a Buster system to today's unstable and got the below.  I 
>> think this should be regarded as a bug, but what is it a bug in?  dpkg?
>>
>> Configuration file '/etc/smartd.conf'
>>  ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
>>  ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
>>    What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:
>>     Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
>>     N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
>>       D     : show the differences between the versions
>>       Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
>>  The default action is to keep your current version.
>> *** smartd.conf (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ? d
>> sh: 1: pager: not found
>> diff: standard output: Broken pipe
>> dpkg: error processing package smartmontools (--configure):
>>  conffile difference visualizer subprocess returned error exit status 127
>>
> 
> /usr/bin/pager should be a link to /etc/alternatives/pager, which should
> then link to a pager.  On a minimal installation this should point to
> /bin/more, from util-linux.
> 
> If I had to speculate, maybe /e/a/p is a broken link to something, and
> maybe there's a bug in the package that provides that alternative pager?
> 
> Anyways, if it's not an obvious bug then you'll almost certainly be
> asked to provide steps to reproduce.
> 
> Best,
> Nicholas

Hi,

I don't agree there's any bug here. The user asked to show a diff,
without a pager installed. IMO the issue is between the chair and
keyboard, not in Debian. Besides this, in non-interactive mode, it would
just work.

Cheers,

Thomas Goirand (zigo)