Bug#34589: dpkg: prerm purge call, perhaps

[Julian Gilbey <J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk>]

> Julian Gilbey writes ("Bug#34589: dpkg: prerm purge call, perhaps"):
> > Package: dpkg
> > Version: 1.4.0.34
> > Severity: wishlist
> > 
> > I think it might be nice if the prerm script were to be called with a
> > "purge" argument before the conffiles are removed during the purge
> > phase of package removal.  I have a use for such a facility.
> > (This would come immediately before step 5 in section 6.5 of the
> > Packaging Manual.)
> 
> Please explain your requirement.  (There are some reasons why this is
> not necessarily a very good idea.)

I was dealing with a package which left configuration-type files
around after removal, and I would have liked to have removed them
pre-purge so that the automatic conffile removal doesn't balk at
non-empty directories where it expects them.  But this is essentially
cosmetic, as the real work can of course be done in the postrm, so if
this will introduce problems, then it's not worth implementing.

   Julian

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  Julian Gilbey, Dept of Maths, QMW, Univ. of London. J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk
             Debian GNU/Linux Developer.  jdg@debian.org
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