Re: Going nuts over debconf

[Peter S Galbraith <p.galbraith@globetrotter.net>]

Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> wrote:

> > Problem summary: Using debconf and rc.d script hangs package installation
> 
> > I am merging packages `powstatd' and `powstad-crypt' into a single new
> > `powstatd' package with encryption enabled.  I wrote a debconf script
> > that displays a warning in certain cases when the configuration file must
> > be edited for the new package to continue working.
> 
> > Upgrading to the new package works fine if the postinst script does not
> > start an rc.d process (e.g. because the package conffile doesn't enable
> > it).  Upgrading hangs when the postinst process is started.
> 
> This normally indicates that the process being started from the init script
> doesn't daemonize properly, and still has file descriptors open to debconf.
> The standard workaround for this is to call db_stop at the end of your
> postinst to force-detach the debconf daemon.

It worked perfectly.

A gazillion thanks!  I spent a few hours trying various things before
posting here.  :-)

Peter