[Pkg-cups-devel] Bug#562110: backend "socket" is removed on every apt-get upgrade of cups

[Brian Potkin]

Hello Lorenz,

> The problem is, that the manually copied binary is deleted every time
> when cups is upgraded.

The debconf information you provided lacks a socket entry.

Under the heading 'Name: cupsys/backend' in /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
there is a list of the backends to be put in /usr/lib/cups/backends. On
upgrading, the files in /usr/lib/cups/backends are deleted and replaced
with new ones according to what is in config.dat. If the socket backend is
absent from config.dat it cannot be replaced. However, any socket file in
backends will deleted - which is what you experienced.

The question is why your debconf database did not have socket in its
Value: line but, after 2+ years, it is probably not easy to find out. The
quick and easy way of altering config.dat is with 'dpkg-reconfigure cups'.
Does that jog any memories?

> I tried to install the cups-package from scatch, to reconfigure cups but
> it didn't changed this odd behavior.

It is necessary to purge (not remove) and then install the package to
reconstruct config.dat with a socket backend in it.

There is nothing in the changelog for about that time which stands out as
causing the install scripts to not act on the information in config.dat,
but the cause could lie elsewhere.

I hope to tidy up the bug list by closing this bug in the next week or so.
It would be useful if you would indicate whether any upgrade or adjustment
you have made to the system has solved your problem.

Regards,

Brian.