Re: how to get debconf or whoever to leave my ntp.conf alone
* Colin Watson (cjwatson@debian.org) spake thusly:
> On Tue, Apr 23, 2002 at 04:41:53PM -0500, Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
...
> > According to dpkg(8) those tools consider "unpacked" (but not
> > configured) and "half-configured" as "package states". That tells me
> > that package configuration is, indeed, part of apt/dpkg's domain.
> > Please tell me if this isn't so, and I'll file a bug against dpkg
> > manpage.
>
> "Configured" means "postinst has been run, libraries have been set up,
> etc." (see policy for the details). What individual packages choose to
> do in their postinsts is up to them, and has nothing to do with dpkg and
> most certainly nothing to do with apt.
*sigh* By apt/dpkg I was referring to "package management system" --
it's 20 or so keystrokes shorter (yeah, I'm too lazy to even count
them accurately).
What packages do in their postinst scripts has everything to do with
package management system, only with the policy/standards, rather than
purely technical, side of it.
>
> > > ...It's up to individual packages, not the package management tools.
> >
> > I should have said it's a design bug in Debian as a whole,
>
> I disagree in the general case, but you probably knew that. I think it
> is an excellent feature of Debian that software is generally configured
> correctly for me. When things go wrong, I file bugs.
Lucky you. I get paid for herding swervers; when things go wrong
I get fired & I don't get to eat.
> > but OK then, have it your way: the bug is between some package
> > maintainers' chairs and keyboards.
>
> Yes. The right thing to do is to file bugs and educate them.
People make misteaks, and not necessarily because they are stupid.
I can easily imagine a package maintainer at 2am Friday night, after
a week at the office, whose mailbox is overflowing with "your package
is the only one that's holding up Woody release!" messages, fscking
postinst script up no matter how smart and educated he or she is.
OTOH, every package's postinst script could, for example, begin with
if [ "$1" == "configure" ]; then
if [ -e /var/lib/dpkg/info/$package.DO_NOT_TOUCH ]; then
exit 0
fi
...
which would give the sysadmin an option to turn autoconfiguration
off on a per-package basis. So that I could touch
/var/lib/dpkg/info/xserver-xfree86.DO_NOT_TOUCH right after installing
X and never worry about dexconf fscking it up. All that's needed is to
have a standard and to enforce it. I don't see any trace of a standard
like that in my /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.postinst; I call that "a design
bug in Debian package management system".
Dima
--
I'm going to exit now since you don't want me to replace the printcap. If you
change your mind later, run -- magicfilter config script
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