[Bug 1085849] Re: Please don't change the answer to linkify-resolvconf

[Thomas Hood]

Debian resolvconf 1.71 implements the Ubuntu behavior of only making one
attempt to linkify (i.e., to replace /etc/resolv.conf with a symbolic
link to ../run/resolvconf/resolv.conf). The changelog explains:

  * Only linkify once; our memory that we have linkified is
      the existence of file /etc/resolvconf/do-not-linkify-resolvconf
      which can of course be created or deleted by the admin. *Do*
      linkify on dpkg-reconfigure --- same behavior as in Ubuntu but
      implemented without changing debconf answers.

I hope that Ubuntu will adopt this.  If there are reasons for not
adopting it, please post them here.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1085849

Title:
  Please don't change the answer to linkify-resolvconf

Status in “resolvconf” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Resolvconf postinst does this:

      db_get resolvconf/linkify-resolvconf
      if [ "$RET" = "true" ] ; then
          [...]
          # Create the link and make sure we don't convert it again on upgrade
          [...]
          ln -nsf ../run/resolvconf/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
          db_set resolvconf/linkify-resolvconf false
      fi

  The problem with the last line is that it obliterates the original
  answer to the question, which makes debugging more difficult. This is
  a non-trivial drawback in connection with bug #1000244 .

  We could achieve the same result without the aforementioned drawback
  if we used an additional debconf question to store the information
  that we have made at least one attempt to linkify.  Roughly:

      db_get resolvconf/linkify-resolvconf
      if [ "$RET" = "true" ] ; then
          [...]
          db_get resolvconf/already-linkified-resolvconf
          if [ "$RET" != "true" ] ; then
              ln -nsf ...
              db_set resolvconf/already-linkified-resolvconf true
          fi
      fi

  The additional debconf question would not be presented to the user and
  would default to "false". (I am waiving here the more philosophical
  objections that may be brought against the use of debconf as a
  registry.  :)

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