Debian bug report logs - #1482
dpkg --purge eats configuration files

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From cus.cam.ac.uk!iwj10 Tue Sep 26 12:25:43 1995
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Date: Tue, 26 Sep 95 20:31 BST
From: Ian Jackson <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk>
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Subject: Re: Bug#1482: dpkg --purge eats configuration files

Raul Miller writes ("Bug#1482: dpkg --purge eats configuration files"):
> I just switched my tgif, xpm and fvwm usage from tgifR6, xpmR6, and
> fvwmR6.  The way I did this was:
> 
> [1] dpkg -i --force-depends  [new package file list]
> [2] dpkg -r  [old package list]
> [3] dpkg --purge  [old package list]
> 
> At this point, my suspicions aroused by the messages I was getting
> >from  dpkg, I looked for some familiar configuration files -- they were
> missing.  I recreated them by:
> 
> [4] dpkg -i  [new package file list]
> 
> But I don't think that this is quite how the package overlaying
> mechanisms are supposed to work.

Umm, there is a conceptual hole here related to conffiles.  I'll think
about what do do about it.

(The mechanism that allows a package to take over files belonging to
another package doesn't work for conffiles.)

Ian.

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From magenta.com!moth Tue Sep 26 11:25:05 1995
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Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 14:20:05 -0400
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From: Raul Miller <moth@magenta.com>
Reply-To: Raul Miller <moth@magenta.com>
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Subject: dpkg --purge eats configuration files

Package: dpkg
Version: 0.93.77

I just switched my tgif, xpm and fvwm usage from tgifR6, xpmR6, and
fvwmR6.  The way I did this was:

[1] dpkg -i --force-depends  [new package file list]
[2] dpkg -r  [old package list]
[3] dpkg --purge  [old package list]

At this point, my suspicions aroused by the messages I was getting
from dpkg, I looked for some familiar configuration files -- they were
missing.  I recreated them by:

[4] dpkg -i  [new package file list]

But I don't think that this is quite how the package overlaying
mechanisms are supposed to work.

-- 
Raul