[Bug 1916651] Re: asks about irc user home directory during upgrade

[Brian Murray]

After editing /etc/apt/sources.list to enable -proposed and switching
from groovy to hirsute I ran 'sudo apt-get install base-passwd' and
observed the following.

Preparing to unpack .../base-passwd_3.5.49ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking base-passwd (3.5.49ubuntu1) over (3.5.47) ...
Setting up base-passwd (3.5.49ubuntu1) ...
Changing home-directory of irc from /var/run/ircd to /run/ircd
1 changes have been made, rewriting files
Writing passwd-file to /etc/passwd
Writing shadow-file to /etc/shadow
Writing group-file to /etc/group

Subsequently, I'm setting the tag to verification-done.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1916651

Title:
  asks about irc user home directory during upgrade

Status in base-passwd package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in base-passwd source package in Hirsute:
  Fix Committed
Status in base-passwd package in Debian:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Test Case]
  1) On an Ubuntu 20.10 system edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file to have hirsute instead of groovy (this is the easiest way to verify the fix because the release upgrade process disables -proposed)
  2) Run apt-get update
  3) Execute 'sudo apt-get install base-passwd'

  With the version of base-passwd in the release component you'll
  receive a prompt about moving the 'irc' user's home directory from
  '/var/run/ircd' to '/run/ircd'.

  With the version of base-passwd from -proposed you will not receive a
  prompt and will instead see the following dpkg message:

  "Changing home-directory of irc from /var/run/ircd to /run/ircd"

  [Where Problems Could Occur]
  In the event that there is a logical error when checking for the irc user and its old home directory being /var/run/ircd a debconf prompt may not be presented when it really should be.

  [Original Description]
  Upgrading from groovy to hirsuite, base-passwd asks if the `irc` user's home directory should be moved from `/var/run/ircd` to `/run/ircd`.  Having no IRC server installed makes this very confusing, but appears harmless (https://askubuntu.com/questions/876975/user-irc-inside-of-default-ubuntu-16-04-server).  Possibly caused by https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=946884, but can this not prompt the user for a decision?

  ProblemType: BugDistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.04
  Package: base-passwd 3.5.49
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-44.50-generic 5.8.18
  Uname: Linux 5.8.0-44-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu59
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
  CurrentDesktop: GNOME
  Date: Tue Feb 23 12:02:59 2021
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-08-17 (556 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" - Alpha amd64 (20190305.1)
  RebootRequiredPkgs:
   libc6
   libc6
   libssl1.1
   libssl1.1SourcePackage: base-passwd
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to hirsute on 2021-02-23 (0 days ago)

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