Your message dated Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:54:43 +0800
with message-id <[email protected]>
and subject line Re: Bug#1116998: miniflux: postinst: can't create the admin
account: this is not an interactive terminal, exiting
has caused the Debian Bug report #1116998,
regarding miniflux: postinst: can't create the admin account: this is not an
interactive terminal, exiting
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--
1116998: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1116998
Debian Bug Tracking System
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--- Begin Message ---
Source: miniflux
Version: 2.2.12-1
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-Cc: [email protected]
Dear Maintainer,
I noticed that miniflux's postins tries to create the admin account,
either upon package installation (when the right debconf values were
pre-seeded), or after the package is installed, via `dpkg-reconfigure
miniflux`.
However it doesn't work, here are some logs:
```
root# dpkg-reconfigure miniflux
dbconfig-common: writing config to /etc/dbconfig-common/miniflux.conf
dbconfig-common: flushing administrative password
usermod: no changes
level=INFO msg="Running database migrations" current_version=114
latest_version=114
this is not an interactive terminal, exiting
```
Looking into the database confirms that no user was created:
```
root# sudo -i -u postgres psql
psql (15.14 (Debian 15.14-0+deb12u1))
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# \c miniflux
You are now connected to database "miniflux" as user "postgres".
miniflux=# SELECT id, username, is_admin, last_login_at FROM users;
id | username | is_admin | last_login_at
----+----------+----------+---------------
(0 rows)
```
I did some research, it turns out that the breakage was caused by a
change upstream, the command `-create-admin` now insists that stdin must
be connected to a TTY, and fails otherwise. Here is the upstream change:
- https://github.com/miniflux/v2/issues/2555
- https://github.com/miniflux/v2/pull/2560/commits/fdc8e66
Ironically, it was commited just _one day_ after you implemented admin
account creation in the postinst...
I tried to trick miniflux like this:
```
root# { echo "myself"; echo "foobar"; } \
| miniflux -c /etc/miniflux/miniflux.conf -create-admin
this is not an interactive terminal, exiting
```
Of course, it doesn't work.
AFAIK, there are 2 ways to create the miniflux admin account:
- use `-create-admin`, but now it needs a TTY
- use variables in the config file, but then we need to start the
miniflux daemon for it to take effect
It seems that none are good for a postinst script...
My impression is that we could ask for a change upstream. There's no
need to insist on a TTY on stdin, they could change their code to
support something like `echo user\npass\n | miniflux -create-admin`.
In term of implementation, instead of proactively checking for a TTY via
`term.IsTerminal(fd)` (cf. [1]), maybe it's possible to handle errors
from either NewReader or ReadString. There should be some specific error
if stdin is closed.
What do you think?
Best,
Arnaud
[1] https://github.com/miniflux/v2/blob/main/internal/cli/ask_credentials.go
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Source: miniflux
Source-Version: 2.2.16-1
Done: Maytham Alsudany <[email protected]>
Admin account creation through debconf has been removed in favour of
manually creating the admin account in the latest upload, with
instructions provided on how to do so in README.Debian (located in
/usr/share/doc/miniflux).
--
Maytham
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--- End Message ---
