Using Debconf to configure a system (Linux.com) [LWN.net]

Linux.com covers the Debconf configuration tool. "Stripped to its essentials, Debconf is a database of questions with a front end for users. It is not a registry of settings, and does not make changes to the operating system itself. Instead, Debconf is invoked by the config script in a Debian package, and stores the user's answers for the postinst (post-install) script in the package to use. The questions for each package are stored in a .templates file in the package, and the same templates, with their current answers, are available in /var/lib/dpkg/info. Common packages may share the same template file to simplify configuration. Questions are generally prefaced with an explanation of the choice being made, and, in some cases, a button is provided for users to move back in the list of questions to correct mistakes."

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Using Debconf to configure a system (Linux.com)

Posted Jun 16, 2006 16:15 UTC (Fri) by hazelsct (guest, #3659) [Link]

Nice article. There are a couple of little errors, like 95% of the questions are asked as soon as packages are downloaded, not just before the configure step.

Question: how is Debconf "not a registry of settings", and how does it "not make changes to the operating system itself"? It stores all of the settings, and its package scripts change conffiles directly, and restart daemons so those changes take effect right away. Yes, you can override by manually editing conffiles, but debconf will take over during that package's next upgrade -- unless you tell it not to, which some packages let you do.