Dear Maintainer, The sysctl.conf(5) manpage from the package procps does not mention that /etc/sysctl.conf is automatically removed on upgrade, nor does it mention that /etc/sysctl.conf is no longer listed as a configuration file. For more information, see https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1110184#45. Best regards, Samuel Plavec
retitle -1 changed /etc/sysctl.conf should not be deleted on upgrade These are three different things which made working out what the actual issue is more difficult. /etc/sysctl.conf automatically removed on upgrade This seems a quirk of how the Debian configuration file handling works. It should have been removed if not changed (i.e it is the one that was shipped last with the package), but it seems that's not the case. This is the actual (and only in this context) bug. It's going to be a pain, because deb-conffiles is extremely unhelpful for corner-cases like this. /etc/sysctl.conf not a configuration file I'm not even sure what this means. If that file exists, sysctl will read it. it's not longer a conffile which is a configuration file handled by the debian packaging infrastructure. Update sysctl.conf(5) The man page is correct in that if a /etc/sysctl.conf exists, then it is read. It is a valid configuration file for sysctl. - Craig
Thanks. This clears up my misunderstanding; I wrongly thought that the removal of /etc/sysctl.conf (incl. if changed) during upgrade was deliberate, which would imply that it wasn't intended to be used anymore.
It's actually a little trickier than that. sysctl, which is part of procps, does read /etc/sysctl.conf systemd-sysctl does not read that file. sysctl.conf.5, part of procps, mentions this file and also that systemd-sysctl doesn't read it. The symlink from /etc/sysctl.conf got removed because the configuration part moved to another package. So either: The upgrade notes need to mention to move the file; or Some package, possibly procps, needs to detect a changed configuration file and move it to the correct location. - Craig
Just for the record, I find it noteworthy that the direct cause of the removal was https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1076190. The release notes definitely need to mention this; there have been multiple complaints about breakages (both at #1110184 and on various forums not specific to Debian). I have unsuccessfully tried to contact the Documentation Team using the #debian-doc IRC channel to bring attention to #1110184.
I think if it was simply moved, then the package taking over the file should have the "adoption" logic. But AFAIK the new package does not install a conffile, so it cannot really adopt the old conffile either. OTOH given procps no longer ships the conffile, it should also not just leave an unowned conffile around. In this situation procps should probably leave a .dpkg-bak file if the conffile was modified. But this is also not the optimal result, as the file will not be read 8-) IMO the best option is to put good, tested advice into the release notes and into NEWS.Debian of procps. Stable update for the NEWS.Debian change should also be uncontroversial in my opinion. Chris
I'm aware of #1110184, but what we really need is a good text. With useful, tested advice. Preferably from the involved maintainers or at least with their sign off. Chris
This is exactly what actually has happened on my system during the upgrade to trixie. I think it is more important to publish the advice soon, than to have perfect advice. From https://salsa.debian.org/debian/procps/-/commit/77f54cb9d9951b193d2aaeb694e56061309eb3ef, it seems that, by default, /etc/sysctl.conf contained nothing except comments. So unless the handling of /etc/sysctl.conf during procps upgrades is going to be changed, I think it is sufficient to note that /etc/sysctl.conf will be removed (or renamed to disable it, if changed), /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf (compatibility symlink shipped by systemd) will also be removed, and that users who have modified their /etc/sysctl.conf are advised to copy their configuration to /etc/sysctl.conf.d/ (and possibly restore the default /etc/sysctl.conf, and reboot, so as to avoid potential issues with duplicating the configuration). Take this with a pinch of salt; I don't fully understand what I am writing about.
That should have been /etc/sysctl.d. Actually, I have just tried this process on a qemu VM (https://gemmei.ftp.acc.umu.se/images/cloud/bookworm/20250814-2204/debian-12-nocloud-amd64-20250814-2204.qcow2, with procps installed), and there are no apparent issues.
https://www.debian.org/releases/trixie/release-notes/issues.en.html#etc-sysctl-conf-is-no-longer-honored IMO NEWS.Debian still should get a note. Chris