Bug#271829: [Adduser-devel] Bug#271829: adduser deleted _all_ files on my disk from a 'dpkg --purge command'

[Marc Haber]

severity #271829 wishlist
thanks

On Wed, Sep 15, 2004 at 04:38:20PM +0200, Ernst Kloppenburg wrote:
> recently _all_ files on my disk were deleted by issuing a 'dpkg
> --purge command'.
> 
> A few days ago I did 'dpkg --purge amavisd-new'. The package had
> already been deinstalled a long time ago (it was the version
> 20021227p2-5). Now I also wanted to get rid of the remaining config
> files.
> 
> Instead I ended up with _all_ files on _all_ mounted partitions
> deleted, except symlinks.
> 
> I now found out the reason: the postrm script calls 'deluser
> --remove-home amavis'. And the home directory of the amavis user was set to
> '/' in /etc/passwd on my system, I do not know why.

This is probably an issue with the amavis-package.

> My conclusion would be that either 
> - deluser should check that 'home' is reasonable

Define "reasonable".

> or
> - deluser should always be called with the '--home' option in package
>   removal scripts

That is an issue with other packages. Or do you suggest that adduser
won't remove any home dir without --home being explicitly given?

What exactly is the fix you're suggesting without breaking existing
packages?

Greetings
Marc

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