[request-tracker-maintainers] Bug#599333: request-tracker3.8: $WebPath debconf variable is reset to its default value when upgrading package

Wed Oct 6 17:36:47 UTC 2010

Package: request-tracker3.8
Version: 3.8.8-5
Severity: normal

We have $WebPath set to an empty string as we're hosting RT using
virtual hosts (and hence no path dispatching is needed).
The variable is set using debconf dialog.

When upgrading the package this variable is reset to its default
value, "/rt". Other variables survive upgrading.

I first faced this when I was upgrading stock request-tracking3.8 from
Squeeze to the set of throw-away packages provided by Dominic to test
his fix for #595054 (race condition), and now I encountered it again
when upgrading to the actual version (containing the said fix).

I'm not sure but possibly an empty string is treated in a somehow
special manner by the debconf machinery or RT maintainer scripts.

By the way when I was setting RT for the first time, I tried to set that
variable to "/" as I thought it was a sensible way to specify "no path
component" but it turned out RT disliked it and failed to find various
resources such as images, styles and scripts, so I figured out an empty
string works OK.

-- Package-specific info:
Changed files:

There are locally modified files in /usr/local/share/request-tracker3.8/,
 these may (or may not) be the source of the problem.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-686 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages request-tracker3.8 depends on:
ii  dbconfig-common             1.8.46       common framework for packaging dat
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]       1.5.35       Debian configuration management sy
ii  libapache-session-perl      1.87-1       Perl modules for keeping persisten
ii  libcache-simple-timedexpiry 0.27-2       Perl module to cache and expire ke
ii  libcalendar-simple-perl     1.21-1       module for producing simple calend
ii  libcgi-fast-perl            5.10.1-14    CGI::Fast Perl module
ii  libcgi-pm-perl              3.49-1       module for Common Gateway Interfac
ii  libclass-returnvalue-perl   0.55-1       A return-value object that lets yo
ii  libcss-squish-perl          0.09-1       module to compact many CSS files i
ii  libdata-ical-perl           0.16+dfsg-1  Perl module for manipulating iCale
ii  libdbi-perl                 1.612-1      Perl Database Interface (DBI)
ii  libdbix-searchbuilder-perl  1.56-1       Perl implementation of a simple OR
ii  libdevel-stacktrace-perl    1.2100-1     Perl module containing stack trace
ii  libemail-address-perl       1.889-2      RFC 2822 Address Parsing and Creat
ii  libfcgi-procmanager-perl    0.18-2       Functions for managing FastCGI app
ii  libfile-sharedir-perl       1.00-0.1     Locate per-dist and per-module sha
ii  libgd-graph-perl            1.44-3       Graph Plotting Module for Perl 5
ii  libgd-text-perl             0.86-5       Text utilities for use with GD
ii  libgnupg-interface-perl     0.42-3       Perl interface to GnuPG
ii  libgraphviz-perl            2.04-1       Perl interface to the GraphViz gra
ii  libhtml-mason-perl          1:1.44-1     HTML::Mason Perl module
ii  libhtml-parser-perl         3.66-1       collection of modules that parse H
ii  libhtml-rewriteattributes-p 0.03-1       concise attribute rewriting
ii  libhtml-scrubber-perl       0.08-4       Perl extension for scrubbing/sanit
ii  libipc-run-safehandles-perl 0.02-1       Use IPC::Run and IPC::Run3 safely
ii  libjs-prototype             1.6.1-1      JavaScript Framework for dynamic w
ii  libjs-scriptaculous         1.8.3-1      JavaScript library for dynamic web
ii  liblocale-maketext-fuzzy-pe 0.10-1       Maketext from already interpolated
ii  liblocale-maketext-lexicon- 0.82-1       lexicon-handling backends for Loca
ii  liblog-dispatch-perl        2.22-1       Dispatches messages to multiple Lo
ii  libmailtools-perl           2.06-1       Manipulate email in perl programs
ii  libmime-tools-perl [libmime 5.428-1      Perl5 modules for MIME-compliant m
ii  libmime-types-perl          1.30-1       Perl extension for determining MIM
ii  libmodule-versions-report-p 1.06-1       Report versions of all modules in 
ii  libperlio-eol-perl          0.14-1+b1    PerlIO layer for normalizing line 
ii  libregexp-common-perl       2010010201-1 module with common regular express
ii  libtext-autoformat-perl     1.669002-1   module for automatic text wrapping
ii  libtext-quoted-perl         2.06-1       Perl module to extract the structu
ii  libtext-template-perl       1.45-1       Text::Template perl module
ii  libtext-wikiformat-perl     0.78-1       translates Wiki formatted text int
ii  libtext-wrapper-perl        1.02-1       Simple word wrapping routine
ii  libtime-modules-perl        2006.0814-2  Various Perl modules for time/date
ii  libtimedate-perl            1.2000-1     collection of modules to manipulat
ii  libtree-simple-perl         1.18-1       A simple tree object
ii  libuniversal-require-perl   0.13-1       Load modules from a variable
ii  libxml-rss-perl             1.48-1       Perl module for managing RSS (RDF 
ii  libxml-simple-perl          2.18-3       Perl module for reading and writin
ii  perl                        5.10.1-14    Larry Wall's Practical Extraction 
ii  perl-modules [libcgi-pm-per 5.10.1-14    Core Perl modules
ii  rsyslog [system-log-daemon] 4.6.4-1      enhanced multi-threaded syslogd
ii  rt3.8-apache2               3.8.8-5      Apache 2 specific files for reques
ii  rt3.8-clients               3.8.8-5      mail gateway and command-line inte
ii  rt3.8-db-mysql              3.8.8-5      MySQL database backend for request
ii  ssmtp [mail-transport-agent 2.64-4       extremely simple MTA to get mail o
ii  ucf                         3.0025+nmu1  Update Configuration File: preserv

Versions of packages request-tracker3.8 recommends:
ii  libdatetime-locale-perl       1:0.45-1   Perl extension providing localizat
ii  libdatetime-perl              2:0.6100-2 module for manipulating dates, tim
pn  speedy-cgi-perl               <none>     (no description available)

Versions of packages request-tracker3.8 suggests:
pn  rt3.8-rtfm                    <none>     (no description available)

-- debconf information:
* request-tracker3.8/organization: domain007.com
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/authmethod-user: password
  request-tracker3.8/install-error: abort
  request-tracker3.8/dbconfig-remove:
* request-tracker3.8/mysql/method: unix socket
  request-tracker3.8/dbconfig-reinstall: false
* request-tracker3.8/db/dbname: rtdb
  request-tracker3.8/missing-db-package-error: abort
* request-tracker3.8/dbconfig-install: true
  request-tracker3.8/remove-error: abort
  request-tracker3.8/warn-sqlite-file:
  request-tracker3.8/remote/newhost:
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/admin-user: postgres
* request-tracker3.8/db/app-user: rtuser
  request-tracker3.8/remote/host:
* request-tracker3.8/rtname: RT007
  request-tracker3.8/internal/reconfiguring: false
  request-tracker3.8/passwords-do-not-match:
* request-tracker3.8/database-type: mysql
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/no-empty-passwords:
* request-tracker3.8/handle-siteconfig-permissions: true
* request-tracker3.8/correspondaddress: rt at domain007.com
* request-tracker3.8/install-cronjobs: true
  request-tracker3.8/upgrade-error: abort
* request-tracker3.8/mysql/admin-user: root
  request-tracker3.8/remote/port:
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/changeconf: false
  request-tracker3.8/dbconfig-upgrade: true
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/method: unix socket
  request-tracker3.8/purge: false
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/authmethod-admin: ident
  request-tracker3.8/pgsql/manualconf:
* request-tracker3.8/webpath:
  request-tracker3.8/upgrade-backup: true
  request-tracker3.8/db/basepath:
  request-tracker3.8/internal/skip-preseed: true
* request-tracker3.8/webbaseurl: http://rt.domain007.com
* request-tracker3.8/commentaddress: rt-comment at domain007.com