Re: Bug#780797: Package modifying a user-modified config file? [Bug #780797]
On 2015-03-21 13:14:08 -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Chris Knadle <Chris.Knadle@coredump.us> writes:
>
> > At present the openssh-server and openssh-client packages are
> > altering /etc/ssh/ssh_config and /etc/ssh/sshd_config without
> > prompting the user beforehand, even when they've been locally
> > modified. I've pointed section § 10.7.3 of Debian Policy:
>
> > • local changes must be preserved during a package upgrade
>
> > (Appendix E also discusses this which I saw later)
>
> > however the argument being made now is that "the particular section
> > of the config being altered wasn't changed by the user".
>
> Correct. The Policy statement is about preserving user changes, not about
> never touching any file that a user has modified in any way. The package
> is free to modify unchanged portions of the configuration file, and this
> has been routinely done during package updates in Debian for as long as
> I've been involved in the project.
I disagree. In such a case there would be *no way* for the user to
tell Debian not to modify his configuration, i.e. an upgrade could
silently break the user configuration, like this happened here.
The only time where a maintainer script could change a config file
modified by the user is when this is absolutely necessary, e.g.
because the behavior changed in the software, an option has been
renamed, and things like that. But even in these cases, this should
be announced in the NEWS file.
--
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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