Debian Bug report logs - #681893
debconf should create /var/cache/debconf if it doesn't exist

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Message #5 received at [email protected] (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Thiago Jung Bauermann <[email protected]>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <[email protected]>

Subject: debconf should create /var/cache/debconf if it doesn't exist

Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:17:43 -0300

Package: debconf
Version: 1.5.36.1
Severity: important


I just restored my system from backup, and my backup excluded /var/cache
hence /var/cache/debconf didn't exist anymore.

This effectivelly broke dpkg:

Setting up man-db (2.5.7-8) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": could not open /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
dpkg: error processing man-db (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

A web search quickly revealed the solution:

# mkdir /var/cache/debconf

debconf should silently create the /var/cache/debconf directory instead
of failing with an error and crippling the system's package system in the
process, temporarily freaking out the user.

I'm marking the bug as important because of that. IMHO a bug which breaks
dpkg (even if the workaround is simple) is significant...

-- 
[]'s
Thiago Jung Bauermann

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 6.0.5
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: armel (armv5tel)

Kernel: Linux 3.4.4-1bauer1-kirkwood
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages debconf depends on:
ii  debconf-i18n           1.5.36.1          full internationalization support 
ii  perl-base              5.10.1-17squeeze3 minimal Perl system

Versions of packages debconf recommends:
ii  apt-utils              0.8.10.3+squeeze1 APT utility programs

Versions of packages debconf suggests:
pn  debconf-doc            <none>            (no description available)
pn  debconf-utils          <none>            (no description available)
ii  dialog                 1.1-20100428-1    Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
pn  libgnome2-perl         <none>            (no description available)
pn  libnet-ldap-perl       <none>            (no description available)
pn  libqtcore4-perl        <none>            (no description available)
pn  libqtgui4-perl         <none>            (no description available)
pn  libterm-readline-gnu-p <none>            (no description available)
ii  perl                   5.10.1-17squeeze3 Larry Wall's Practical Extraction 

-- debconf-show failed

Message #16 received at [email protected] (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Marco d'Itri <[email protected]>

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Bug#681893: debconf should create /var/cache/debconf if it doesn't exist

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 10:12:01 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Jul 17, Thiago Jung Bauermann <[email protected]> wrote:

> debconf should silently create the /var/cache/debconf directory instead
I do not believe that this is true, and it is definitely not generally 
true because not all programs accessing /var/cache/$something/ do that 
with root privileges.
So, while it is expected that files may disappear at any time from 
/var/cache/ the structure of subdirectories should be preserved.

-- 
ciao,
Marco

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