Package: dpkg Version: 1.15.7.2 Severity: minor Tags: patch As per this discussion thread:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2010/08/msg00184.html ...the dpkg(1) man page might not be clear enough that when it talks about --purge and "everything, even configuration files" as well as "configuration files [...] created and handled separately" it's not including configuration automatically generated by the packaged application written within individual user home directories. I've taken a stab at clarified wording for these sections, since I know you're probably quite busy already. Thanks! -- System Information: Debian Release: squeeze/sid APT prefers unstable APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (250, 'experimental') Architecture: i386 (i686) Kernel: Linux 2.6.35-rc5-686-bigmem (SMP w/4 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=en_DK.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_DK.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Versions of packages dpkg depends on: ii coreutils 8.5-1 GNU core utilities ii libbz2-1.0 1.0.5-4 high-quality block-sorting file co ii libc6 2.11.2-2 Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib ii libselinux1 2.0.94-1 SELinux runtime shared libraries ii xz-utils 4.999.9beta+20100713-1 XZ-format compression utilities ii zlib1g 1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3 compression library - runtime dpkg recommends no packages. Versions of packages dpkg suggests: ii apt 0.7.25.3 Advanced front-end for dpkg -- no debconf information
diff -ru a/man/dpkg.1 b/man/dpkg.1 --- a/man/dpkg.1 2010-08-11 14:01:18.000000000 +0000 +++ b/man/dpkg.1 2010-08-19 17:22:40.000000000 +0000 @@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ files, except configuration files). .TP .B purge -The package is selected to be purged (i.e. we want to remove everything, -even configuration files). +The package is selected to be purged (i.e. we want to remove everything +from system directories, even configuration files). .SS PACKAGE FLAGS .TP .B reinst\-required @@ -172,7 +172,9 @@ \fBdpkg\fP because they are created and handled separately through the configuration scripts. In that case, \fBdpkg\fP won't remove them by itself, but the package's \fIpostrm\fP script (which is called by -\fBdpkg\fP), has to take care of their removal during purge. +\fBdpkg\fP), has to take care of their removal during purge. Of course, +this only applies to files in system directories, not configuration files +written to individual users' home directories. Removing of a package consists of the following steps: .br
