Bug#1036907: release-notes: dash in bookworm drops debconf selector for /bin/sh

[Andrej Shadura]

Package: release-notes
Severity: normal

Hi,

I think the release notes should probably mention that dash
0.5.11+git20210903+057cd650a4ed-4 has dropped all debconf code to allow
using a different shell as /bin/sh.

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

tags -1 moreinfo

Bug #1036907 [release-notes] release-notes: dash in bookworm drops debconf selector for /bin/sh
Added tag(s) moreinfo.

[Paul Gevers]

Control: tags -1 moreinfo

Hi Andrej,

You know: thanks.

Post by Andrej Shadura
I think the release notes should probably mention that dash
0.5.11+git20210903+057cd650a4ed-4 has dropped all debconf code to allow
using a different shell as /bin/sh.

Does this only effects new installations, or is this relevant for
upgrades too?

Paul

[Andrej Shadura]

Hi,

Post by Paul Gevers

Post by Andrej Shadura
I think the release notes should probably mention that dash
0.5.11+git20210903+057cd650a4ed-4 has dropped all debconf code to allow
using a different shell as /bin/sh.

Does this only effects new installations, or is this relevant for
upgrades too?

I wasn’t 100% sure, but I have now verified and yes, dash reclaims /bin/sh on upgrades.
I could have handled that smarter and given users one release to adjust, but I guess it’s probably a bit late for that?

[Paul Gevers]

Hi Andrej,

I wasn’t 100% sure, but I have now verified and yes, dash reclaims /bin/sh on upgrades.

Ack (and a bit of ugh).

I could have handled that smarter and given users one release to adjust, but I guess it’s probably a bit late for that?

Absolutely.

How was this technically done in the past, diversions,
update-alternatives, something else?

Paul

[Andrej Shadura]

Hi,

Post by Paul Gevers

Post by Andrej Shadura
I wasn’t 100% sure, but I have now verified and yes, dash reclaims /bin/sh on upgrades.

Ack (and a bit of ugh).

Post by Andrej Shadura
I could have handled that smarter and given users one release to adjust, but I guess it’s probably a bit late for that?

Absolutely.
How was this technically done in the past, diversions,
update-alternatives, something else?

Diversions, but since it’s /bin/sh, it also involved a bit of tricks to prevent things from breaking in bad ways.

[Justin B Rye]

Post by Andrej Shadura
I think the release notes should probably mention that dash
0.5.11+git20210903+057cd650a4ed-4 has dropped all debconf code to allow
using a different shell as /bin/sh.

It's not clear from the above (or the changelog) what the change is,
exactly. Okay, there's now no debconf code to set up a new /bin/sh ->
/bin/bash symlink, but does that mean existing ones will be reverted
on dist-upgrade, or what? Is this configuration no longer supported,
or is it just that in future admins should set it up with some
mechanism more reliable than debconf?

Either way, we'll need to amend that release-notes entry for
^-handling, and presumably we'll want a new entry about this to go
along with that one.

[Paul Gevers]

HI,

Post by Justin B Rye
Either way, we'll need to amend that release-notes entry for
^-handling, and presumably we'll want a new entry about this to go
along with that one.

That was exactly my idea too.

Paul