[Bug 1069062] [NEW] [dist-upgrade] Dangerous package "flash-kernel", manually removed, was automatically reinstalled by upgrade to Q

[Marcus Comstedt]

Public bug reported:

The package flash-kernel is a package which causes the flash partition
/dev/mmcblk0 to be unconditionally overwritten each time you install a
new kernel or module.  I have a multiboot setup with Android and Ubuntu
on my AC100, and load the kernel from a SD-card using Multiboot
installed in the rescue partition.  So I don't want my /dev/mmcblk0
overwritten (that would break my multiboot setup), I just want the
kernels to be put in /boot as usual (where Multiboot will find them).
Thus, I have uninstalled this package, which has had the desired effect
of not destroying my boot partition all the time.

However, when upgrading to quantal, dist-upgrade sneakily chose to
reverse my decision and reinstall this landmine of a package behind my
back (see also bug#1069059).  If I hadn't discovered it in time, it
would probably had destroyed my boot partition further down the upgrade
process.  As it were, I was unable to just uninstall it (the dpkg
database was locked by the upgrade in progress), so I took the
precaution of deleting the device node /dev/mmcblk0 instead...

Please respect my wishes to not have my partitions overwritten, and
don't automatically install packages which unconditonally do so.

Thanks.

** Affects: update-manager (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: dist-upgrade

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1069062

Title:
  [dist-upgrade] Dangerous package "flash-kernel", manually removed, was
  automatically reinstalled by upgrade to Q

Status in “update-manager” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The package flash-kernel is a package which causes the flash partition
  /dev/mmcblk0 to be unconditionally overwritten each time you install a
  new kernel or module.  I have a multiboot setup with Android and
  Ubuntu on my AC100, and load the kernel from a SD-card using Multiboot
  installed in the rescue partition.  So I don't want my /dev/mmcblk0
  overwritten (that would break my multiboot setup), I just want the
  kernels to be put in /boot as usual (where Multiboot will find them).
  Thus, I have uninstalled this package, which has had the desired
  effect of not destroying my boot partition all the time.

  However, when upgrading to quantal, dist-upgrade sneakily chose to
  reverse my decision and reinstall this landmine of a package behind my
  back (see also bug#1069059).  If I hadn't discovered it in time, it
  would probably had destroyed my boot partition further down the
  upgrade process.  As it were, I was unable to just uninstall it (the
  dpkg database was locked by the upgrade in progress), so I took the
  precaution of deleting the device node /dev/mmcblk0 instead...

  Please respect my wishes to not have my partitions overwritten, and
  don't automatically install packages which unconditonally do so.

  Thanks.

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