#845126 firewalld: Please merge configuration during upgrade

Package:
firewalld
Source:
firewalld
Submitter:
James Valleroy
Date:
2026-05-02 10:33:02 UTC
Severity:
wishlist
Tags:
#845126#5
Date:
2016-11-20 15:49:37 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

firewalld is being used in FreedomBox, but currently is confusing to
upgrade due to a conffile prompt. This was reported here:
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2016-November/007694.html

FreedomBox uses this script to configure firewalld:
https://github.com/freedombox/Plinth/blob/master/data/usr/lib/freedombox/first-run.d/90_firewall
When we run "firewall-cmd --set-default-zone=external", firewalld
modifies /etc/firewalld/firewalld.conf.

However, /etc/firewalld/firewalld.conf is a conffile, and if there are
any changes to this file in a new firewalld package, then it causes the
conffile prompt during upgrade, with no easy way to merge our
configuration with the changes in the new package. This also prevents
unattended-upgrades from upgrading the package automatically.

Please consider using ucf or a similar tool to merge the configuration
during upgrade.

#845126#10
Date:
2016-12-13 03:38:00 UTC
From:
To:
I'm attaching a patch that implements this change.

With this change, firewalld.conf is installed into /usr/share/firewalld.
Then in postinst, ucf will merge the file into /etc/firewalld.

During an interactive upgrade (assuming default settings), if both files
are changed, there will be a ucf prompt that allows three-way diff and
merge. It also won't block unattended-upgrade of this package.

#845126#17
Date:
2018-09-22 00:40:25 UTC
From:
To:
Hello,

Just wanted to check, could you consider this patch? Or is there another
approach we could try?

Regards,
James

#845126#22
Date:
2026-05-02 10:30:21 UTC
From:
To:
Hi James!

I have to be honest: I'm not a very huge fan of ucf. It feels like
something bolted on to work around a deficiency in dpkg or the upstream
configuration system.

So, I'm very reluctant to merge anything that adds a dependency on ucf.

Regards,
Michael