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Re: preserving user changes while managing configuration files



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Hello Dennis,

On 23.11.2011 11:48, Dennis van Dok wrote:
>> In case a sensible default is not possible, then ship without a config
>> file, and offer to generate one based on debconf answers if the file
>> does not exist.
> 
> This sounds like a reasonable approach. I should probably do this with
> ucf as Alexander suggested.

please mind the exact wording here. A "configuration file" is not the
same as a "conffile" in Debian. Note, you are not allowed to modify a
conffile at any time.

When using a debhelper any file your package installs in /etc is
automatically marked as conffile. As such, you must not touch it (§
10.7.3) at all, nor is any other package or configuration program
allowed to touch it.

If you want to modify the configuration of your package at installation
time, you can do so by creating a configuration file your program
expects _at installation time_ in the maintainer script but it must not
be part of the package itself.
To preserve user changes or do a graceful updates of your dynamically
created configuration files, you may then manage your changes through
ucf as Alexander suggested.

- -- 
with kind regards,
Arno Töll
IRC: daemonkeeper on Freenode/OFTC
GnuPG Key-ID: 0x9D80F36D
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