Bug#707077: obsolete conffiles: s/may/should/

[Charles Plessy]

Package: debian-policy
Severity: wishlist

Le Mon, May 06, 2013 at 06:09:48PM +0800, Paul Wise a �crit :
>
> $ dpkg-query -W -f='${Conffiles}\n' | grep obsolete | wc -l
> 8
>
> On a machine that has been running for a few years with apt pinned to
> experimental (then sid, testing), there are 59:
>
> $ dpkg-query -W -f='${Conffiles}\n' | grep obsolete | wc -l
> 59
>
> On master.debian.org there is only one:
>
> pabs@master:~$ dpkg-query -W -f='${Conffiles}\n' | grep obsolete | wc -l
> 1
>
> So the vast majority of packages obey this suggestion.

Hi Paul,

this is for the conffiles, but as worded in your suggestion, packages should
also do this for the other configuration files.

Anyway, I do not think that the Policy 3.9.5 will be uploaded soon (it still
needs to get sections on the triggers and on multi-arch), so this leaves some
time to see how well received is the idea, and if unexpected shortcomings are
found.

Would you or somebody else have time for one more round of advocacy ? If I
understand well, since the Wheezy release it is not needed anymore to
pre-depend on dpkg to use dpkg-maintscript-helper, so passing this message
would be a good opportunity to spread the idea.

Cheers,

--
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan


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[Charles Plessy]

Le Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 03:07:29PM +0800, Paul Wise a �crit :
> On Mon, 2013-05-06 at 15:18 +0800, Paul Wise wrote:
>
> > In policy section 10.7.3 Behavior, there is this sentence:
> >
> > Obsolete configuration files without local changes may be
> > removed by the package during upgrade.
> >
> > I would like to suggest that "may" be replaced with "should".
>
> Ping, what is the status of this?

Hi Paul and everybody,

in May I opened #707077 for tracking this issue; let's use it.

Are there objections to Paul's proposition ?

[Jonathan Nieder]

Charles Plessy wrote:
> Le Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 03:07:29PM +0800, Paul Wise a �crit :
>> On Mon, 2013-05-06 at 15:18 +0800, Paul Wise wrote:

>>> In policy section 10.7.3 Behavior, there is this sentence:
>>>
>>> Obsolete configuration files without local changes may be
>>> removed by the package during upgrade.
>>>
>>> I would like to suggest that "may" be replaced with "should".

Seconded.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Charles Plessy]

Le Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 11:20:42AM -0700, Jonathan Nieder a �crit :

> Charles Plessy wrote:
> > Le Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 03:07:29PM +0800, Paul Wise a �crit :
> >> On Mon, 2013-05-06 at 15:18 +0800, Paul Wise wrote:
>
> >>> In policy section 10.7.3 Behavior, there is this sentence:
> >>>
> >>> Obsolete configuration files without local changes may be
> >>> removed by the package during upgrade.
> >>>
> >>> I would like to suggest that "may" be replaced with "should".
>
> Seconded.

Thanks Paul for the ping and Jonathan for the assessment. I second that
change as well. I attached what I will commit soon unless some corrections
are proposed.

[Jonathan Nieder]

Charles Plessy wrote:

> --- a/upgrading-checklist.sgml
> +++ b/upgrading-checklist.sgml
> @@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ Unreleased.
> <tag>9.1.1.8</tag>
> <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
> </item>
> +<tag>10.7.3</tag>
> + <item>During package upgrades, the removal of obsolete configuration files
> + without local changes is now recommended (<em>should</em>) instead of
> + suggested (<em>may</em>). Note the <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
> + tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
> + <em>Wheezy</em>.

I'd say

<item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
<em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
</item>

to emphasize what packagers have to do instead of what changed in the
text.

But even without that tweak, this patch looks fine.

Thanks much for taking care of it.

[Charles Plessy]

Le Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 04:27:06PM -0700, Jonathan Nieder a écrit :
> Charles Plessy wrote:
>
> > --- a/upgrading-checklist.sgml
> > +++ b/upgrading-checklist.sgml
> > @@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ Unreleased.
> > <tag>9.1.1.8</tag>
> > <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
> > </item>
> > +<tag>10.7.3</tag>
> > + <item>During package upgrades, the removal of obsolete configuration files
> > + without local changes is now recommended (<em>should</em>) instead of
> > + suggested (<em>may</em>). Note the <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
> > + tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
> > + <em>Wheezy</em>.
>
> I'd say
>
> <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
> local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
> tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
> <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
> </item>
>
> to emphasize what packagers have to do instead of what changed in the
> text.

Thanks for the improvement. I pushed the changes with it.

Cheers,

--
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan