On Sat, Nov 25, 2006 at 09:47:21AM +0100, Andreas Metzler wrote: > On 2006-11-25 Javier Fernández-Sanguino Peña <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Package: exim4-config > > Version: 4.63-10 > > Priority: wishlist > > > Exim4-config generates /etc/mailname automatically on postinst, based on the > > information provided by the user. It fails, however, to remove this > > configuration file if the package is purged from the system. > > That is because /etc/mailname is a shared configuration file. Multiple > installed programs are using it, removing just *one* of them (exim) > must not break the others.
What other programs use this file (in a standarda Debian installation)
besides the standard mail-transport-agent (i.e exim4)? In my system's
configuration files I only see emacs using this as well as PostgreSQL's
reusing that information for SSL certificate generation in postinst (although
it behaves properly if /etc/mailname does not exist)
AFAIK only different MTAs should use this file and they should behave
properly if the file has been removed due to a purge, as policy 11.6
dictates. Ie, this should be ok:
- exim4-config gets installed and configured (/etc/mailname gets created)
- exim4-config gets purged (automatically generated /etc/mailname gets
removed as well as the debconf info)
(some time later...)
- alternate MTA (sendmail, postfix, whatever) gets installed
--> The alternate MTA should create (on the basis of policy 11.6)
/etc/mailname as it does not exist in the system
This is perfectly compatible with:
- exim4-config gets installed and configured (/etc/mailname gets created)
[ an admin installs an alternate mail-transport-agent ]
- exim4-config gets removed (/etc/mailname does *not* get removed) due to
conflicts
- alternate MTA (sendmail, postfix, whatever) gets installed and reuses
existing /etc/mailname created by exim4-config
In order to prevent breakage from exim4-config being (later on) purged the
postrm script would "just" have to check if an alternative
mail-transport-agent which might be using /etc/mailname is installed.
If there is no mail-transport-agent when exim4-config is purge it might be
sensible to remove /etc/mailname if it has been created by exim4-config and
has not been changed by the local administrator.
> [...]
> > IMHO, exim4-config should remove /etc/mailname if it can ascertain (through
> > it's checksum) that *he* (and not the admin) created the file. That would
> > make it possible to fix the above situation by purging the package and
> > reinstalling.
>
> I do not think exim should ever remove this file. The actual breakage
> you encontered needs to be fixed in a different way.
Ok. And that way is?
> cu and- I would suggest closing this bug on the basis of
> policy 11.6 -reas
From my reading of policy 11.6 what I'm suggesting is perfectly compatible
(if implemented properly, which might be tricky) with having a shared
configuration file across mail-transport-agents in Debian.
Regards
Javier
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