Re: Init scripts as conffiles
On Tue, 15 Feb 2011, Tony Houghton wrote:
> I don't like about it is that init scripts get left behind when
> uninstalling packages.
Configuration files are always left behind unless you purge a package.
> It wouldn't be quite so bad if packages called update-rc.d disable
> on their init scripts when removed so that init doesn't read the
> disused scripts, but AFAICT from the Policy Manual (sec 9.3.3.1)
> that isn't standard behaviour.
The standard behavior is to exit 0 in the init script if the package
is no longer installed; that's a fairly reasonable thing to do.
> The fact that they aren't ordinary config files can cause a problem
> if you delete one or break it badly during editing.
This is the same issue that you have with /etc/default/* and many
other configuration files; editing them can break the configuration
and cause things not to work properly.
> How about I file a wishlist bug for dpkg and apt for an option
> similar to purge but which only purges files which haven't been
> altered from the package's default?
I've personally never had a use case for such an option myself; either
you want the package installed, you want it removed for now, but may
reinstall it later, or you never want to reinstall it again. [And you
were looking for --force-confmiss, btw.]
Don Armstrong
--
PowerPoint is symptomatic of a certain type of bureaucratic
environment: one typified by interminable presentations with lots of
fussy little bullet-points and flashy dissolves and soundtracks masked
into the background, to try to convince the audience that the goon
behind the computer has something significant to say.
-- Charles Stross _The Jennifer Morgue_ p33
http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
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