debconf.desc

Check-Script: debconf
Author: Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>
Abbrev: dc
Type: binary, udeb, source
Info: This looks for common mistakes in packages using debconf.
Needs-Info: bin-pkg-control, unpacked, scripts

Tag: missing-debconf-dependency
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: Packages using debconf should depend on it, since debconf is not an
 essential package.

Tag: missing-debconf-dependency-for-preinst
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: Packages using debconf in their preinst script must pre-depend
 on debconf, with appropriate discussion on &debdev;. Since debconf is
 almost always already installed, this is normally better than depending
 on it and falling back to a different configuration system.

Tag: unknown-field-in-templates
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: Valid fields are currently "Template:", "Type:", "Choices:", "Default:",
 and "Description:".
Ref: debconf-spec 3.1, debconf-devel(7)

Tag: no-template-name
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The templates file contains a template without a "Template:" field.

Tag: malformed-template-name
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The "Template:" field should contain more than one component, each
 separated by a slash ("/"). Each component may only consist of the
 alphanumeric characters, "+", "-", and ".".

Tag: no-template-type
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The templates file contains a template without a "Type:" field.

Tag: unknown-template-type
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: A "Type:" field in a templates file provided by this package uses an
 unknown data type. Valid types are currently "string", "boolean", "select",
 "multiselect", "note", "text", and "password".

Tag: empty-translated-choices
Severity: important
Certainty: possible
Info: When the translation of a Choices: field is empty, the whole question
 is skipped (and nothing is selected). Please verify that the translation
 you're using is valid.

Tag: mismatch-translated-choices
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: A "Choices:" field is a comma separated list, and translated
 "Choices:" fields must have the exact same number of elements. One
 of the translations does not follow this rule, you should contact the
 translator and request for a new translation where elements of "Choices:"
 fields have no embedded commas.
 .
 Cdebconf understands escaped commas in such fields, but packages
 outside the scope of debian-installer must not have them until they are
 also supported by debconf.

Tag: select-without-choices
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: Templates using the "select" or "multiselect" data types must provide
 a "Choices:" field listing the possible values of the template.
Ref: debconf-spec 3.1, debconf-devel(7)

Tag: boolean-template-has-bogus-default
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The "boolean" type in a debconf template, can have only two values: true
 and false. The default has been set to something different.
Ref: debconf-spec 3.1, debconf-devel(7)

Tag: no-template-description
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The templates file contains a template without a "Description:" field.
Ref: debconf-spec 3, debconf-devel(7)

Tag: duplicate-long-description-in-template
Severity: minor
Certainty: certain
Info: The long description of one of the templates provided by this package
 is a duplicate of the short description. If you cannot provide a good
 extended description, it is better to leave it blank.

Tag: config-does-not-load-confmodule
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The config script must load one of the debconf libraries.

Tag: postinst-uses-db-input
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: It is generally not a good idea for postinst scripts to use debconf
 commands like <tt>db_input</tt>. Typically, they should restrict themselves
 to <tt>db_get</tt> to request previously acquired information, and have the
 config script do the actual prompting.

Tag: postinst-does-not-load-confmodule
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: Even if your postinst does not involve debconf, you currently need to
 make sure it loads one of the debconf libraries. This will be changed in
 the future.

Tag: loads-obsolete-confmodule
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The maintainer script uses an obsolete name for a debconf confmodule.
 Shell scripts should source <tt>/usr/share/debconf/confmodule</tt>, while
 Perl scripts should use <tt>Debconf::Client::ConfModule</tt>.
Ref: debconf-devel(7)

Tag: postrm-does-not-purge-debconf
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: Packages using debconf should call <tt>db_purge</tt> or its equivalent
 in their postrm. If the package uses debhelper, dh_installdebconf(1) should
 take care of this.

Tag: isdefault-flag-is-deprecated
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: The "isdefault" flag on debconf questions is deprecated as of debconf
 0.5.00, and has been replaced by "seen" with the inverse meaning. From
 debconf 0.5 onwards there should be very few reasons to use isdefault/seen
 anyway, as backing up works much better now. See
 /usr/share/doc/debconf-doc/changelog.gz for more information.
 .
 The misuse of isdefault often leads to questions being asked twice in one
 installation run, or, worse, on every upgrade. Please test your package
 carefully to make sure this does not happen.

Tag: debconf-config-not-executable
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The debconf "config" script in the package control area must be
 executable.

Tag: no-debconf-config
Severity: important
Certainty: possible
Info: The package contains a "templates" file in its control area but has no
 corresponding "config" script. This is occasionally OK, but is usually an
 error.

Tag: no-debconf-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: The package contains a "config" script in its control area but has no
 corresponding "templates" file. This is occasionally OK, but is usually an
 error.

Tag: debconf-is-not-a-registry
Severity: important
Certainty: wild-guess
Info: In the Unix tradition, Debian packages should have human-readable and
 human-editable configuration files. This package uses debconf commands
 outside its maintainer scripts, which often indicates that it is taking
 configuration information directly from the debconf database. Typically,
 packages should use debconf-supplied information to generate
 configuration files, and -- to avoid losing configuration information on
 upgrades -- should parse these configuration files in the <tt>config</tt>
 script if it is necessary to ask the user for changes.
 .
 Some standalone programs may legitimately use debconf to prompt the user
 for questions. If you maintain a package containing such a program,
 please install an override. Other exceptions to this check include
 configuration scripts called from the package's post-installation script.
Ref: devref 6.5.1, debconf-devel(7)

Tag: malformed-prompt-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The short description of a select, multiselect, string and password
 debconf template is a prompt and not a title. Avoid question style
 prompts ("IP Address?") in favour of "opened" prompts ("IP address:").
 The use of colons is recommended.
 .
 If this template is only used internally by the package and not displayed
 to the user, put "for internal use" in the short description.
Ref: devref 6.5.4.2

Tag: malformed-title-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The short description of a note debconf template should be written
 as a title and therefore should not end with a period, question mark,
 colon, or semicolon.
Ref: devref 6.5.4.2.4

Tag: malformed-question-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The short description of a boolean debconf template should be
 phrased in the form of a question which should be kept short and should
 generally end with a question mark. Terse writing style is permitted and
 even encouraged if the question is rather long.
 .
 If this template is only used internally by the package and not displayed
 to the user, put "for internal use" in the short description.
Ref: devref 6.5.4.2.2

Tag: using-question-in-extended-description-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The extended description of a debconf template should never include
 a question.
 .
 If this template is only used internally by the package and not displayed
 to the user, put "for internal use" in the short description.
Ref: devref 6.5.3.2

Tag: using-imperative-form-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: Do not use useless imperative constructions such as "Please choose...",
 "Enter...". The interface will make it obvious that the user needs to
 choose or enter something.
Ref: devref 6.5.4.2

Tag: using-first-person-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: You should avoid the use of first person ("I will do this..." or
 "We recommend..."). The computer is not a person and the Debconf
 templates do not speak for the Debian developers. You should use neutral
 construction and often the passive form.
 .
 If this template is only used internally by the package and not displayed
 to the user, put "for internal use" in the short description.
Ref: devref 6.5.2.5

Tag: making-assumptions-about-interfaces-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: Template text should not make reference to widgets belonging to
 some debconf interfaces. Sentences like "If you answer Yes..." have no
 meaning for users of graphical interfaces which use checkboxes for
 boolean questions.
Ref: devref 6.5.2.4

Tag: too-long-short-description-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: The short description should be kept short (50 characters or so) so
 that it may be accommodated by most debconf interfaces. Keeping it short
 also helps translators, as usually translations tend to end up being
 longer than the original.
Ref: devref 6.5.3.2

Tag: too-long-extended-description-in-templates
Severity: normal
Certainty: certain
Info: Some debconf interfaces cannot deal very well with descriptions of
 more than about 20 lines, so try to keep the extended description below
 this limit.
Ref: devref 6.5.3.2

Tag: unknown-debconf-priority
Severity: important
Certainty: certain
Info: The given maintainer script calls db_input or db_text with a
 first argument that doesn't match one of the known priorities. The
 supported priorities are low, medium, high, and critical.
Ref: debconf-devel(7)

Tag: possible-debconf-note-abuse
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: Debconf notes should be used only for important notes that the
 user really should see, since debconf will go to great pains to make
 sure the user sees it.
 .
 Displaying a note with a low priority is conflicting with this statement,
 since using a low or medium priority shows that the note is not
 important.
 .
 The right fix is NOT to increase the priority of the note, but to move
 it somewhere else in the inline documentation, for example in a
 README.Debian file for notes about package usability or NEWS.Debian for
 changes in the package behavior, or to simply drop it if it is not
 needed (e.g. "welcome" notes). Changing the templates type to "error"
 can also be appropriate, such as for input validation errors.
Ref: policy 3.9.1

Tag: select-with-boolean-choices
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: Select templates with only yes and no choices should use the boolean
 type instead.
Ref: debconf-devel(7)

Tag: template-uses-unsplit-choices
Severity: normal
Certainty: possible
Info: The use of _Choices in templates is deprecated.
 A _Choices field must be translated as a single string.
 .
 Using __Choices allows each choice to be translated separately, easing
 translation and is therefore recommended.
 .
 Instead of simply replacing all occurrences of "_Choices" by "__Choices",
 apply the method described in po-debconf(7) under "SPLITTING CHOICES
 LIST", to avoid breaking existing translations.
 .
 If in doubt, please ask for help on the debian-i18n mailing list.
Ref: po-debconf(7)

Tag: unused-debconf-template
Severity: minor
Certainty: possible
Info: Templates which are not used by the package should be removed from
 the templates file.
 .
 This will reduce the size of the templates database and prevent
 translators from unnecessarily translating the template's text.
 .
 In some cases, the template is used but Lintian is unable to determine
 this. Common causes are:
 .
 - the maintainer scripts embed a variable in the template name in
 order to allow a template to be selected from a range of similar
 templates (e.g. <tt>db_input low start_$service_at_boot</tt>)
 .
 - the template is not used by the maintainer scripts but is used by
 a program in the package
 .
 - the maintainer scripts are written in perl. Lintian currently only
 understands the shell script debconf functions.
 .
 If any of the above apply, please install an override.

Tag: syntax-error-in-debconf-template
Severity: important
Certainty: possible
Info: The template file contains a syntax error.
 .
 This issue may hide other issues as Lintian skips some checks on the
 file in this case.