Re: [LCFC] templates://unattended-upgrades/{templates}

[Michael Vogt <mvo@debian.org>]

On Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 07:49:47PM +0000, Justin B Rye wrote:
> Christian Perrier wrote:
> > Quoting Justin B Rye (jbr@edlug.org.uk):
> >> Does it really mean "debconf prompts"?
> > 
> > No, this is more about questions asked by dpkg when a new version of a
> > configuration file is provided.
> 
> Given that I was misled by the phrase "configuration file prompts",
> I'd prefer to see it clarified.  Maybe something like:
> 
>  This package can download and install security upgrades automatically
>  and unattended, taking care to only install packages from the
>  configured APT source, and checking for dpkg prompts about configuration
>  file changes.

I like this new explaination better than the old one, its clearer this
way. Thanks :)
 
> But what about other kinds of postinst prompts?  Are they ignored?

The way it works if that it examines the dpkg conffile database and
compares that with the (downloaded) packages and the conffiles (and
their checksums) there. If it detects that there will be a conffile
prompt it does not upgrade the package.

For debconf prompts it sets the frontend to noninteractive. 

For random prompts in maintainer scripts that do not use debconf there
is little it can do. It redirects input to /dev/null. That seems to
cover most scripts (compare e.g. askyesno in base-passwd.postinst) and
make them use the default.

Cheers,
 Michael