[Dbconfig-common-devel] install-purge-reinstall problem with undeleted database

[Cameron Dale]

On 1/9/06, sean finney <seanius at debian.org> wrote:
>
> there really isn't a lot we can do, given that the real solution is to
> drop the database in question, and that's something that i'd rather not
> put into any kind of automated script :)

Agreed, that's not the solution.

> i can think of a couple ideas, but all within dbconfig-common.  one
> simple thing that would make a big difference is to have the error
> message reference some documentation, which has our recommendations
> on how to get out of situations like that.

I'd still rather handle this within debconf/dbconfig-common, than just
notify the user of an error and leave it up to them to fix it.

> another solution, which would be a bit more complicated (as it involves
> hacking/adding code) would be to add some code to check and handle
> this situation in a sensible way (prompting on whether to update the
> user's password, i guess).

I like this idea. I think the best solution would be to handle it
exactly like other install errors are handled in the dbc_install_error
function. That is, if the database exists, check that the password we
have works, and if not then prompt the error message with a selection
like retry/leave it alone/enter the password/reset the password. Of
course this solution also requires the most work ;). I have some time
now to look at making a patch to implement this, if you think that
this is the way to go. Let me know.

Cameron Dale