[Aptitude-devel] Bug#729095: aptitude: 'Modified configuration file' choices

[Jeff Harris]

Package: aptitude
Version: 0.6.3-3.2+squeeze1
Severity: normal

In my specific example, I am upgrading PHP.

"
A new version of configuration file /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini is available, but the version installed
currently has been locally modified.

What do you want to do about modified configuration file php.ini?

    install the package maintainer's version
    keep the local version currently installed
    show the differences between the versions
    show a side-by-side difference between the versions
    start a new shell to examine the situation
"

Here is what I need to do: Save the package maintainer's version as...
 * a file in my $USER directory
 * a patch file in my $USER directory

or, a note that says "the package maintainer's version is saved as ... " so it can be found later.

I don't want to lose my modifications, but I want to know what the package maintainer thinks is 
important enough to be in the new configuration file, and I want to do it on my schedule.

Also, staring a new shell doesn't work on a remote machine: "No terminal, and no DISPLAY set, can't fork 
shell."

-- Package-specific info:
aptitude 0.6.3 compiled at Aug 10 2011 23:28:10
Compiler: g++ 4.4.5
Compiled against:
  apt version 4.10.1
  NCurses version 5.7
  libsigc++ version: 2.2.4.2
  Ept support enabled.
  Gtk+ support disabled.

Current library versions:
  NCurses version: ncurses 5.7.20100313
  cwidget version: 0.5.16
  Apt version: 4.10.1
	linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007fff045ff000)
	libapt-pkg.so.4.10 => /usr/lib/libapt-pkg.so.4.10 (0x00007f140fac0000)
	libncursesw.so.5 => /lib/libncursesw.so.5 (0x00007f140f86d000)
	libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0x00007f140f667000)
	libcwidget.so.3 => /usr/lib/libcwidget.so.3 (0x00007f140f39b000)
	libept.so.1 => /usr/lib/libept.so.1 (0x00007f140f147000)
	libxapian.so.22 => /usr/lib/libxapian.so.22 (0x00007f140ed66000)
	libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x00007f140eb4f000)
	libsqlite3.so.0 => /usr/lib/libsqlite3.so.0 (0x00007f140e8b8000)
	libboost_iostreams.so.1.42.0 => /usr/lib/libboost_iostreams.so.1.42.0 (0x00007f140e69c000)
	libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f140e480000)
	libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007f140e16c000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x00007f140dee9000)
	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007f140dcd3000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007f140d971000)
	libutil.so.1 => /lib/libutil.so.1 (0x00007f140d76d000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f140d569000)
	libuuid.so.1 => /lib/libuuid.so.1 (0x00007f140d364000)
	libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/libbz2.so.1.0 (0x00007f140d154000)
	librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0x00007f140cf4c000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f140fdd3000)
Terminal: xterm
$DISPLAY not set.
`which aptitude`: /usr/bin/aptitude
aptitude version information:

aptitude linkage:

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 6.0.8
  APT prefers oldstable
  APT policy: (500, 'oldstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages aptitude depends on:
ii  apt [libapt-pkg4.10]   0.8.10.3+squeeze1 Advanced front-end for dpkg
ii  libboost-iostreams1.42 1.42.0-4          Boost.Iostreams Library
ii  libc6                  2.11.3-4          Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libcwidget3            0.5.16-3          high-level terminal interface libr
ii  libept1                1.0.4             High-level library for managing De
ii  libgcc1                1:4.4.5-8         GCC support library
ii  libncursesw5           5.7+20100313-5    shared libraries for terminal hand
ii  libsigc++-2.0-0c2a     2.2.4.2-1         type-safe Signal Framework for C++
ii  libsqlite3-0           3.7.3-1           SQLite 3 shared library
ii  libstdc++6             4.4.5-8           The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii  libxapian22            1.2.3-2           Search engine library
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3  compression library - runtime

Versions of packages aptitude recommends:
pn  apt-xapian-index              <none>     (no description available)
pn  aptitude-doc-en | aptitude-do <none>     (no description available)
pn  libparse-debianchangelog-perl <none>     (no description available)
ii  sensible-utils                0.0.4      Utilities for sensible alternative

Versions of packages aptitude suggests:
pn  debtags                       <none>     (no description available)
ii  tasksel                       2.88       Tool for selecting tasks for insta

-- no debconf information