Bug#688737: code-aster{, -mpi}-engine: configuration file in /usr, modified by postinst: /usr/lib/codeaster/STA10.6{, _mpi}/config-py2.7.txt

[Andreas Beckmann]

Package: code-aster-engine,code-aster-mpi-engine
Version: 10.6.0-1-4
Severity: serious
User: debian-qa at lists.debian.org
Usertags: piuparts

Hi,

during a test with piuparts I noticed your package modifies conffiles.
This is forbidden by the policy, see
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-files.html#s-config-files

At least I assume by its name that this is a conffile, but then it needs
to be placed in /etc (with perhaps a symlink in /usr).

10.7.2: "Any configuration files created or used by your package must
reside in /etc. [...]"

10.7.3: "[...] The easy way to achieve this behavior is to make the
configuration file a conffile. [...] This implies that the default
version will be part of the package distribution, and must not be
modified by the maintainer scripts during installation (or at any
other time)."

Note that once a package ships a modified version of that conffile,
dpkg will prompt the user for an action how to handle the upgrade of
this modified conffile (that was not modified by the user).

Further in 10.7.3: "[...] must not ask unnecessary questions
(particularly during upgrades) [...]"

If a configuration file is customized by a maintainer script after
having asked some debconf questions, it may not be marked as a
conffile. Instead a template could be installed in /usr/share and used
by the postinst script to fill in the custom values and create (or
update) the configuration file (preserving any user modifications!).
This file must be removed during postrm purge.
ucf(1) may help with these tasks.
See also http://wiki.debian.org/DpkgConffileHandling

In https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2012/09/msg00412.html and
followups it has been agreed that these bugs are to be filed with
severity serious.

debsums reports modification of the following files,
from the attached log (scroll to the bottom...):

  /usr/lib/codeaster/STA10.6/config-py2.7.txt
  /usr/lib/codeaster/STA10.6_mpi/config-py2.7.txt

    

cheers,

Andreas
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