[Debconf-devel] Bug#192889: debconf uses first value for select if old choice doesn't exist anymore; should at least be default

[Bas Wijnen]

reassign 495319 debconf
retitle 495319 debconf: uses first choice for select if old choice doesn't exist anymore
thanks

Hi,

On Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 10:13:14PM +0200, Tim Dijkstra wrote:
> Somehow the problem is caused by the fact that one of the config
> options changed name from 'poweroff' to 'shutdown'. If you previously
> had poweroff that value was no-longer valid, somehow you not end up
> with 'platform' which is the default... 

I was surprised to see that reboot is an option at all.  But that isn't
a bug, of course. :-)

> To conclude, this is not a problem for first installs, only for
> upgrades. So I don't think this bug is `grave'.

Indeed.  And looking at the code, it isn't a bug in uswsusp either.  It
properly gets its value from debconf, and has the correct default set.

The problem, AFAICS, is that debconf should treat this situation as
"unanswered question" (which would result in asking again, or using the
default), but does instead treat it as "answered as [first choice]".

Given this new insight I reassigned the bug to debconf and changed the
title to make it useful for its maintainer.  It seems to be related to
#192889 (if that is properly fixed, this is no longer an issue), but in
this case I think there is a proper fix without breaking packages (using
the default instead of the first choice).

A workaround for uswsusp would be to make "platform" the first choice
(in debian/uswsusp.templates).  Note that while new installs are not
affected, upgrades from etch to lenny are, and there are about to be a
whole lot of those.  It's quite important that this gets fixed before
the release IMO.  So please ask for a freeze exception after fixing or
working around this.  That may be easier if you set the severity to
"serious", but only do that if you agree with me, of course. :-)

For clarity, if uswsusp is uploaded with a workaround and is to be
pushed into testing, you'll need a new bug (preferably at RC severity),
because closing this one will hide the still existing problem in
debconf.

Thanks,
Bas

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