Bug#924401: base-files fails postinst when base-passwd is unpacked

[Santiago Vila <sanvila@unex.es>]

On Fri, Mar 15, 2019 at 04:51:11PM +0100, Helmut Grohne wrote:

>  Since dpkg will not prevent upgrading of other packages while an
>  ``essential`` package is in an unconfigured state, all ``essential``
>  packages must supply all of their core functionality even when
> -unconfigured. If the package cannot satisfy this requirement it must not
> +unconfigured after being configured at least once.
> +If the package cannot satisfy this requirement it must not
>  be tagged as essential, and any packages depending on this package must
>  instead have explicit dependency fields as appropriate.

More to the point: Packages that may have the "awk" role, which is
considered both essential and virtual, will definitely never work
until configured for the first time, because /usr/bin/awk is handled
by the alternatives mechanism, which runs in the postinst.

In other words, your proposed patch seems completely ok to me, as it
represents (what I think it has always been) Debian Policy accurately.

Thanks.