If I install utrans-rc, it generates a /etc/init.d/exim4 file, which
conflicts with the file installed by the exim4-base
package.

This results in this prompt when installing exim4-base.

Configuration file '/etc/init.d/exim4'
 ==> File on system created by you or by a script.
 ==> File also in package provided by package maintainer.
   What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:
    Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
 The default action is to keep your current version.
*** exim4 (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ?

I suppose that this happens if exim4-base is unpacked but not configured
before utrans-rc is configured, but I'm not sure.

Thanks. I am away until Thursday, but will look then.

Maybe the postinst should use the trigger so it happens after all
packages are installed and configured.

Mark

Lucas,

Thanks for this. I am afraid I am unable to reproduce.

There might be a potential issue in that /etc/init.d/exim is in exim4-base
whereas /usr/lib/systemd/system/exim4.service is in exim4-daemon-light.

Having said that, I cannot generate a failure by installing utrans-rc and
exim4-base or exim4-daemon-light. It would seem that your error is caused by
utrans-rc producing /etc/init.d/exim4 from /usr/lib/systemd/system/exim4.service
before exim4-base is installed. But exim4-daemon-light depends on exim4-base, so
I don't currently see how that can happen.

Do you have a reliable reproducer?

Thanks

Mark

incus launch images:debian/13 d13 --vm --type c2-m4
# or: incus launch images:debian/13 d13
incus exec d13 -- apt-get -y install utrans-rc

Or mmdebstrap:
mmdebstrap --variant=minbase --chrooted-customize-hook='apt update && apt -o APT::Install-Recommends=yes install -y utrans-rc' trixie /dev/null
(Inspired from Zeha's reproducer in #1108944)

Lucas

Lucas,
me.

Mark

commit 27a1dee33fef7659c121eb7da3f180988351f5ed
Author: Mark Hindley <mark@hindley.org.uk>
Date:   Sat Jul 12 12:54:21 2025 +0100

    utrans-rc.postinst: use manual trigger to regenerate scripts so it happens after all other packages are configured.

    Closes: #1108949

diff --git a/debian/utrans-rc.postinst b/debian/utrans-rc.postinst
index c0a3ae1..14078f3 100644
--- a/debian/utrans-rc.postinst
+++ b/debian/utrans-rc.postinst
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@
 set -e

 case "$1" in
-    configure) utrans-rc ;;
+    configure)
+	# Remove any timestamp to force regeneration of all scripts.
+	rm -f /var/tmp/${DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE}.stamp
+	# Trigger regeneration.
+	dpkg-trigger /usr/lib/systemd/system
+	;;
     triggered) utrans-rc -u ;;
 esac
 # dh_installdeb will replace this with shell code automatically

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
unit-translator, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1108949@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Mark Hindley <leepen@debian.org> (supplier of updated unit-translator package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2025 12:56:36 +0100
Source: unit-translator
Architecture: source
Version: 0.7-2
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Mark Hindley <leepen@debian.org>
Changed-By: Mark Hindley <leepen@debian.org>
Closes: 1108949
Changes:
 unit-translator (0.7-2) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * d/control: bump Standards Version (no changes).
   * utrans-rc.postinst: use manual trigger to regenerate scripts so that
     it happens after all packages are configured. (Closes: #1108949)
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Hi,

Happened to come across this bug.

This is a very predictable path. Normally those have security concerns
as anybody on the system can create this file between here and where
it's used. Were those considered? (I haven't checked the code, I only
read the patch here).

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for this.
file is used (passed to find's -ctime option). I couldn't think of an adverse
security implication. Although, maybe I am not sufficiently imaginative? What
have I missed or not considered?

Mark

Hi,


If the timestamp is put in the (far) future, the action you want to
trigger might not happen. What is the timestamp used for?

Paul

Paul,
recently than the timestamp are converted again to see if the generated output
is different.

So, updating of already generated files could be prevented by changing the
time.stamp file mtime. I saw that as pointless rather than a security issue.

If you think I have underestimated the significance and impact, the file could
be moved under /var/lib/?

Thanks for your time with this.

Mark