Using dbconfig-common in maintainer scripts.

[Nikolai Lusan <nikolai@lusan.id.au>]

Greetings,
I am packaging Policyd version (codename Cluebringer), this is a
complete rewrite of the original Policyd that is packaged in
postfix-policyd. I am having some problems testing my packages, it seems
that dbconfig-common isn't performing as it should. I have read all the
documentation and several other maintainer scripts that use
dbconfig-common and I'm still struggling, mainly with the postinst side
of things since testing has shown remove and purge to work the
prerm/postrm side seems just fine.

What happens is that debconf asks the questions (not all the questions I
would like), but then dbconfig-comon fails to generate the config files
that it should and the entries
in /etc/dbconfig-common/postfix-cluebringer are all empty strings. I
would appreciate some help, and possibly some more information on what
is possible with dbconfig-common and debconf in general.

dbconfig-common problem:
My postfix-cluebringer.config file contains:

        #!/bin/sh -e
        
        . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
        . /usr/share/dbconfig-common/dpkg/config 
        
        dbc_first_version=2.0.10-1
        dbc_dbtypes="mysql, pgsql, sqlite"
        dbc_authmethod_user="password"
        dbc_dbuser="cluebringer"
        dbc_dbname="cluebringer"
        dbc_remote_questions_default=true
        
        
        dbc_go postfix-clubringer $@
        
        
My postfix-cluebringer.postinst file contains:

        #!/bin/sh -e
        
        CONFIG_FILE="/etc/cluebringer/cluebringer.conf"
        INIT_FILE="/etc/init.d/postfix-cluebringer"
        DAEMON="postfix-cluebringer"
        
        . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
        . /usr/share/dbconfig-common/dpkg/postinst
        
        dbc_first_version="2.0.10-1"
        dbc_generate_include="template:/etc/cluebringer/cluebringer.conf"
        dbc_generate_include_perms="660"
        dbc_generate_include_owner="root:www-data"
        dbc_generate_include_args="-o template_infile=/usr/share/doc/postfix-cluebringer/templates/cluebringer.conf -U"
        
        dbc_go postfix-cluebringer $@
        
        </snip_general stuff>

Request for more information:
There is also a php based webui that I am packaging in the same build
and a patched version on amavisd-new that works with Cluebringer. While
these packages don't rely on postfix-cluebringer I would like to be able
to access the debconf/dbconfig-common database entries for
postfix-cluebringer (if it is installed) to optionally configure them
automagically for the user. Is this possible?

While debugging the postinst script I also noticed a whole lot of
variables not mentioned in any documentation or example being used by
dbconfig-common and I was wondering if any of these are usable in the
config/postinst script (for forcing debconf to ask specific questions
for example). I have emailed the dbconfig-common maintainer, but with no
luck.


Thanks in advance for any help/advice.
-- 
Nikolai Lusan <nikolai@lusan.id.au>

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part