debconf o_O

gistfile1.txt

       Rockj | Is there any specific reason for why I can't seed another box with  debconf-get-selections tzdata to the new one? debconf-set-selections doesn't seem to respect the values kinda, since
             | debconf-get-selections on tzdata marks severals timezones as selected ... (system had utc first then changed to another one... ) . So is debconf-get-selections supposed to remember that the old UTC
             | one was selected?
       Rockj | (trying to seed another virtual box with debconf configuration, and I find it odd that it wont accept tzdata.)
    gnarface | Rockj: i believe its a known and fairly common problem that you can't send the literal debconf-get-selections log back in to debconf-set-selections to get the same settings for ... most packages.
             | tzdata i remember being listed as a specific example when i read about this
       Rockj | I thought that was the whole point of debconf-(get|set)-selections...
    gnarface | Rockj: i agree, its dumb, but apparently you just have to clean up the output and figure out what settings it actually used and use them, and ignore the chaff
    gnarface | Rockj: i think a point was missed somewhere for sure but it was probably a long time ago
       Rockj | wouldn't that really be the job for «dpkg-reconfigure package» to fix it really?
    gnarface | no, i don't think so because that's really a user tool.  debconf-get/set-selections is for preseeding and other sorts of bootstrapping automation i believe
       Rockj | I mean, shouldn't package.postinst scripts be smart enough to clean up after it self?
    gnarface | write the package maintainer and ask him that, i dare you
       Rockj | when you do run dpkg-reconfigure tzdata, it sets it values via debconf, and the .postinst packages reads information from it .. IMO it should clean up as well the old values and only set the new
             | ones
    gnarface | some of the packages might...
         --> | daedeloth (~daedeloth@ip-83-134-175-14.dsl.scarlet.be) has joined #debian
       Rockj | so when using debconf-get/set-selections for preseeding another box, it should just work out of the box
       Rockj | gnarface: but I'm analyzing this wrong or? In a perfect world it should do that? I mean, for other packages that debconf-(get|set)-selections works for, I assume .postinst configure cleans up after
             | it self after a new configuration change?
    gnarface | Rockj: i agree with you, i was disappointed to find that out too, but i don't know.  either they clean up after themselves or they're just coincidentally symmetrical that way.  i'm sure there's a
             | good reason for it not being a requirement
       Rockj | gnarface: I guess I'll see if I dare to send the guy/guys an email and ask them about it. :-)