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

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Package: debconf; Maintainer for debconf is Debconf Developers <[email protected]>; Source for debconf is src:debconf (PTS, buildd, popcon).

Reported by: Thiago Jung Bauermann <[email protected]>

Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:21:05 UTC

Severity: normal

Merged with 223039, 247134

Found in versions debconf/1.5.1, debconf/1.5.36.1, debconf/1.4.25, 1.3.22

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Subject: Bug#681893: debconf should create /var/cache/debconf if it doesn't exist
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Message-ID: <1342534663.4136.1.camel@hactar>
From: Thiago Jung Bauermann <[email protected]>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:17:43 -0300
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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

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