debconf

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Module Description - What does the module do?
3. Setup - The basics of getting started with debconf
   • What debconf affects
   • Setup requirements
4. Usage - Configuration options and additional functionality
5. Reference - An under-the-hood peek at what the module is doing and how
6. Limitations - OS compatibility, etc.
7. Development - Guide for contributing to the module

Overview

Manage entries in the Debian debconf database.

Module Description

Debian based systems use the debconf database to record configuration choices the user made during the installation of a package. The system uses the stored answers and therefore does not need to query the user again when the package is upgraded or reinstalled at a later time.

The debconf type allows preseeding the database with given answers to allow an unattended package installation or modification of package defaults. The type can optionally also manage the seen flag for an item.

The standard package type uses the responsefile parameter to provide a file with preseeded answers during installation. The debconf type is a more general solution as it allows to update settings without the need to install the package at the same time.

Setup

What debconf affects

The debconf type modifies entries in the Debian debconf database.

Setup Requirements

This module uses programs provided by the Debian/Ubuntu debconf package. Debian assigns the required priority to this package so it should already be installed everywhere.

Usage

Use debconf-show or debconf-get-selections to find out about valid debconf entries for an installed package.

Example: Use dash as replacement for the bourne shell

This entry will ensure a symlink from /bin/sh to /bin/dash if dpkg-reconfigure dash is run the next time. It will also mark the question as seen to prevent the installer from asking this question during the installation.

debconf { 'dash/sh':
  type  => 'boolean',
  value => 'true',
  seen  => true,
}

Note: Although this code is perfectly legal Puppet code, the string 'true' (not the boolean true) will trigger the puppet-lint warning quoted_booleans. But we really want to use the string 'true' and not the boolean truth value here. So in this case we can easily suppress the warning with a control comment:

debconf { 'dash/sh':
  type  => 'boolean',
  value => 'true',      # lint:ignore:quoted_booleans
  seen  => true,
}

Example: Automatically set a root password for MySQL during installation

These two resources preseed the installation of the mysql-server-5.5 package with the password for the MySQL root user to use. The password has to be set twice because the installation dialog asks two times for the password to detect typos. This password is used if the package is installed after these resources have been created.

debconf { 'mysql-root-passwd':
  package => 'mysql-server-5.5',
  item    => 'mysql-server/root_password',
  type    => 'password',
  value   => 'secret',
  seen    => true,
}

debconf { 'mysql-root-passwd-again':
  package => 'mysql-server-5.5',
  item    => 'mysql-server/root_password_again',
  type    => 'password',
  value   => 'secret',
  seen    => true,
}

Reference

See REFERENCE.md

This module is only useful on Debian based systems where the debconf database is used.

A control comment may be needed to suppress puppet-lint warnings when you set boolean values. See the Usage section for an example.

The value of the type parameter is only used when an item is created. It is not updated if the value of the item is changed later.

Development

Feel free to send pull requests for new features.

Reference

Table of Contents

Resource types

• debconf: Manage debconf database entries on Debian based systems.

Resource types

debconf

This type can either set or remove a value for a debconf database entry. It uses multiple programs from the debconf package.

Examples

Set a select value

debconf { 'tzdata/Areas':
  type  => 'select',
  value => 'Europe',
}

Set a boolean value

debconf { 'dash/sh':
  type  => 'boolean',
  value => 'true',
}

Set a boolean value in a specified package and mark as seen

debconf { 'libraries/restart-without-asking':
  package => 'libc6',
  type    => 'boolean',
  value   => 'true',
  seen    => true,
}

Properties

The following properties are available in the debconf type.

ensure

Valid values: present, absent

Specifies whether the resource should exist. Setting this to "absent" tells Puppet to remove the debconf entry if it exists, and negates the effect of any other parameters.

Default value: present

seen

Valid values: true, false

The value of the 'seen' flag. This can be left undefined or be one of the boolean values true or false.

value

Valid values: %r{\S}

The value for the item (e.g. 'Europe').

Parameters

The following parameters are available in the debconf type.

• item
• name
• package
• provider
• type

item

Valid values: %r{^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9:.+-]+\/[a-zA-Z0-9\/_.+-]+$}

The item name. This string must have the following format: the package name, a literal slash char and the name of the question (e.g. 'tzdata/Areas'). The default value is the title of the resource.

name

namevar

The name of the resource. If the parameter 'item' is not set, then this value will be used for it. You can set the same item in different packages by using different names for the resources.

package

Valid values: %r{^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9:.+-]+$}

The package the item belongs to. The default is the first part (up to the first '/') of the item parameter (e.g. 'tzdata').

provider

The specific backend to use for this debconf resource. You will seldom need to specify this --- Puppet will usually discover the appropriate provider for your platform.

type

Valid values: string, boolean, select, multiselect, note, text, password, title

The type of the item. This can only be one of the following values: string, boolean, select, multiselect, note, text, password, title.

2024-08-13 - Release 6.1.0

Features

• Add sensible error message when calling puppet resource debconf.
• Add Ubuntu-24.04 (Noble) to the list of support operating systems.

2023-07-07 - Release 6.0.0

Features

• Add support for Puppet 8

Breaking changes

• Drop support for Puppet 6

2022-07-27 - Release 5.0.0

Features

• Add Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) to the list of supported operating systems.

Breaking changes

• Drop Ubuntu 16.04 support
• Drop Debian 9 support

2021-09-15 - Release 4.1.0

Bugfixes

• Allow multiple resources for the same item in different packages without raising a duplicate resource error.

2021-08-30 - Release 4.0.0

Breaking changes

• Drop Ubuntu 14.04 support
• Drop Debian 8 support

Features

• Add Debian 11 (Bullseye) to the list of supported operating systems.

2021-03-04 - Release 3.3.1

Bugfixes

• Fix wrong number of arguments error introduced by Rubocop triggered change.

2021-03-04 - Release 3.3.0

Features

• Add support for Puppet 7.

2020-06-22 - Release 3.2.0

Features

• Add Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) to the list of supported operating systems.
• Add Debian 10 (Buster) to the list of supported operating systems.

2019-09-27 - Release 3.0.0

Breaking changes

• Remove support for Puppet 4.

2018-10-14 - Release 2.3.0

Features

• Add support for Puppet 6.
• Remove Debian 7 and Ubuntu 17.10 as supported operating systems.

2018-07-02 - Release 2.2.1

Features

• Add Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) to the list of supported operating systems.
• Convert to Puppet PDK.

2018-05-08 - Release 2.2.0

Features

• The type has a new seen parameter to define the value of the seen flag for an item. Setting this parameter to a boolean value will set the flag to the specified value. Leaving this parameter undefined will retain the old behavior.

2018-02-04 - Release 2.1.0

Features

This release removes support for some legacy OS releases.

Bugfixes

• Fix a bug where a pipe to a subprocess was closed too late. This caused a subprocess to become a zombie until the Puppet run finished.

2017-03-10 - Release 2.0.0

Features

• Added Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) to the list of supported operating systems.

Bugfixes

• Added an additional validation for the type parameter. This effectively makes the parameter mandatory for ensure => present. The type of the entry is required when the entry is missing in the debconf database and has to be created.
• Fix a bug that prevented reading a preseeded password correctly. Previously a password item would trigger a resource update with every Puppet run.

2016-05-13 - Release 1.0.0

Summary

Initial release.