[Debconf-devel] Problems preseeding a package at install time - help?

[Jo Shields]

I want to preseed a preinst value used by the package "libfglrx", which
is installed via a dependency from "fglrx-driver" which is listed in
.disk/base_include

libfglrx.preinst includes the check:

	# allow to disable the check via preseeding
	db_get fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
	test "$RET" = "true" || return 0

And on an installed system, debconf-get-selections includes:

libfglrx	fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu	boolean true

which matches the default value defined in libfglrx.templates:

Template: fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
Type: boolean
Default: true

What I want to do is preseed this value as false, to disable the check.
I have added to my preseed file:

libfglrx fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu boolean false

Section B.4.13 of the installer documentation indicates that this is the
correct way to preseed "other packages".

However, whilst I know that *something* is parsing the preseed value as
expected:

Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: --> SET fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
false
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: <-- 10 fglrx-drover/check-for-unsupported-gpu
doesn't exist
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: --> REGISTER debian-installer/dummy
fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: <-- 0
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: --> SET fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
false
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: <-- 0 value set
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: --> SUBST
fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu ID
fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: Adding [ID] ->
[fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu]
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: <-- 0
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: --> FSET fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
seen true
Apr 20 22:00:09 debconf: <-- 0 true

this value is *not* used by the actual package installer:

Apr 20 22:01:35 debootstrap: debconf (developer): <-- GET
fglrx-driver/check-for-unsupported-gpu
Apr 20 22:01:35 debootstrap: debconf (developer): --> 0 true

And no, there is never another SET other than my preseeded one, so it's
not being overwritten by something else.

So I guess my question is "what am I doing wrong?" - my first instinct
is to assume that there's more than one debconf database, and that the
wrong one is being written to (or read from) for what I'm hoping to see.
The installer documentation isn't yielding the expected results.

Short of patching src:fglrx-driver, how can I make libfglrx always use
false as the value for this debconf question?

Thanks.

(P.S. please CC me in replies, I am not subscribed to either list)