Bug#1014611: docbook-xml and docbook-xsl failed to update their catalogs in /etc/xml when interrupted

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

Package: docbook-xml
Version: 4.5-12
Control: affects -1 src:libreswan xmlto
Control: clone -1 -2
Control: reassign docbook-xsl 1.79.2+dfsg-2

I have a debian/unstable system on amd64.

I installed a pile of software on it, including docbook-xml and
docbook-xsl. Part of the software installation failed due to
circumstances outside the machine (the VM was terminated on the host),
but after rebooting i picked up with "dpkg --reconfigure -a" and "apt
install -f". All seemed fine.

However, when i then tried to build documentation (from the libreswan
package, fwiw, which uses xmlto to generate manpages), i got failures
due to the following files being empty:

/etc/xml/catalog
/etc/xml/docbook-xml.xml
/etc/xml/docbook-xsl.xml

The errors resulted in messages like:

> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd

When i did:

dpkg-reconfigure docbook-xml docbook-xsl

then tried to rebuild, there was no problem.

So something about the commands that rebuild these files in /etc/xml is
dangerous, because it can be interrupted, and leave the system in a
state that appears to be correct, but is in fact non-functional.

perhaps the rebuild that's happening needs to happen somewhere else, and
then get moved into place correctly, rather than leaving an empty file?

Sorry to not have a more specific way to replicate the issue.

--dkg

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

> When i did:
>
> dpkg-reconfigure docbook-xml docbook-xsl
>
> then tried to rebuild, there was no problem.

I had a look at the preinst and postinst scripts of docbook-xsl, and as
far as I can tell, all the code there is obsolete and only triggering
when upgrading from very old (before 2009) versions of the package, and
do not touch the content of /etc/xml/ at all.

This make me believe the preinst and postinst scripts should be removed
and the described issue is not present in docbook-xsl. Perhaps it is in
docbook-xml instead? Did not look at that package.

--
Happy hacking
Petter Reinholdtsen

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

> I had a look at the preinst and postinst scripts of docbook-xsl, and as
> far as I can tell, all the code there is obsolete and only triggering
> when upgrading from very old (before 2009) versions of the package, and
> do not touch the content of /etc/xml/ at all.

I removed the preinst and postinst scripts in version 1.79.2+dfsg-4. I
also had a look at the preinst in docbook-xml, and as far as I can see
it do not touch the content of /etc/xml/ at all, so I have no idea what
went wrong here.

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

Btw, I noticed "Processing triggers for sgml-base (1.31) ..." when
upgrading docbook-xsl to version 1.79.2+dfsg-4. Perhaps the issue is in
the trigger, not in docbook-xsl?