ignoring updates to a conffile?

[Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org>]

Hi,

I want to do the following to a configuration file: Ignore all updates
of the conffile inside the .deb (in other words: just keep what's
installed on the system). At the moment this file is marked as
conffile.

The idea is:
- Install the file somewhere else as template (e.g.
  /usr/share/<package>/conf/...), and copy the template in postinst if
  it is not already there.
- Remove the file in postrm in case of purge.

A rather problematic issue is on upgrades from a previous package
where the previous one had it as a conffile. I think about the
following: Just removing this file in the deb, and then do in
postinst:
if [ ! -a file -a -a file.dpkg-old ]; then
  mv file.dpkg-old file;
fi

if [ ! -a file ]; then
  cp template file;
fi


Would that be ok? Any suggestions on making it better? (And: Does this
mean that the conffile is not available during some time between
replacing the old configuration, and postinst of the new package?)


Cheers,
Andi
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