Hi Andreas, Thank for you for the bugreport and throughout explanation!
On 11/01/2018 13:21, Andreas Beckmann wrote: > Package: libpsm-infinipath1 > Version: 3.3+20.604758e7-4 > Severity: important > User: debian...@lists.debian.org > Usertags: piuparts > > Hi, > > during a test with piuparts I noticed your package left unowned files on > the system after purge, which is a violation of policy 6.8: > > https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/#details-of-removal-and-or-configuration-purging > > The leftover files are actually alternatives that were installed by the > package but have not been properly removed. > > While there is ongoing discussion how to remove alternatives correctly > (see https://bugs.debian.org/71621 for details) the following strategy > should work for regular cases: > * 'postinst configure' always installs the alternative > * 'prerm remove' removes the alternative > * 'postrm remove' and 'postrm disappear' remove the alternative Unfortunately, the latter raises the following lintian warning: https://lintian.debian.org/tags/maintainer-script-should-not-use-update-alternatives-remove.html Are you positive this is needed? If so, is it a bug in lintian? > In all other cases a maintainer script is invoked (e.g. upgrade, > deconfigure) the alternatives are not modified to preserve user > configuration. > Removing the alternative in 'prerm remove' avoids having a dangling link > once the actual file gets removed, but 'prerm remove' is not called in > all cases (e.g. unpacked but not configured packages or disappearing > packages) so the postrm must remove the alternative again > (update-alternatives gracefully handles removal of non-existing > alternatives). > Regards, -- Mehdi
