[Pkg-puppet-devel] Bug#596163: cannot be purged when var/lib/puppet doesn't exist

[Peter Palfrader]

Package: puppet-common
Version: 2.6.1~rc3-1
Severity: serious

puppet-common cannot be removed when it was only unpacked but
never configured.

I ran into this while trying to install an older puppet (hence the
dpkg instead of just apt), but the bug is still present in the
latest version, as shown here.

master:~# dpkg --unpack puppet-common_2.6.1~rc3-1_all.deb 
Selecting previously deselected package puppet-common.
(Reading database ... 26457 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking puppet-common (from puppet-common_2.6.1~rc3-1_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...

master:~# dpkg --purge puppet-common
(Reading database ... 27176 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing puppet-common ...
Purging configuration files for puppet-common ...
rmdir: failed to remove `/var/lib/puppet': No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing puppet-common (--purge):
 subprocess installed post-removal script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 puppet-common
master:~# 

This is a bug in your postrm script, probably quite easy to fix
(e.g. with a ! [ -d ... ] || rmdir)

Cheers