Package: base-files Version: 5.1 Severity: wishlist Short version:
I wish that on upgrade base-files would check if /usr/share/base-files/profile and /etc/profile differ and warn the user if he/she might need to manually upgrade the file. The rationale here is that people expect to get the same set of bugs regardless of whether they do a fresh installation or upgrade an old one. Longer version: A group of new openmoko users were complaining that their PATH was wrong and pasting error messages such as dpkg: warning: 'ldconfig' not found on PATH I was puzzled, we compared package version numbers and md5sums of conffiles and everything looked identical. How could people who did a fresh installation see different set of bugs than I who upgraded from an old installation? After a few days I noticed base-files (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low * The file /etc/profile is not a conffile anymore. Instead, it is created by postinst in the very first base-files install, made by debootstrap. * Accordingly, removed bash from Replaces field. -- Santiago Vila <sanv...@debian.org> Tue, 14 Dec 2004 19:06:00 +0100 which explains the issue. I understand that showing a warning during configure might sound noisy. If that is the case please at least consider mentioning this in README.Debian with for example something like: "Please note that this package installs some files only when the package is first installed but does not upgrade them even if the package is upgraded. These files (and their original versions) are: /usr/share/base-files/nsswitch.conf /etc/nsswitch.conf /usr/share/base-files/dot.profile /root/.profile /usr/share/base-files/dot.bashrc /root/.bashrc /usr/share/base-files/profile /etc/profile /usr/share/base-files/motd /etc/motd If your debian installation is more than a few releases old you might want to sync these files manually from time to time." -- System Information: Debian Release: squeeze/sid APT prefers unstable APT policy: (500, 'unstable') Architecture: armel (armv4tl) Kernel: Linux 2.6.29-GTA02_lindi2-andy-tracking-mokodev Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=fi_FI (charmap=ISO-8859-1) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Versions of packages base-files depends on: ii base-passwd 3.5.22 Debian base system master password ii mawk [awk] 1.3.3-15 a pattern scanning and text proces base-files recommends no packages. base-files suggests no packages. -- no debconf information -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org