What cause ''/etc/lsb-release' modified? And how to reproduce it

Jeff Pang

8/30/24, 1:44 AM

I observed the below prompt one day when my script is running 'dpkg --configure -a'

 Configuration file '/etc/lsb-release'
  ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
  ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
    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
 The default action is to keep your current version.

I made some changes to handle this prompt on my script and would like to test it. However, this error is no longer seen after I manually resolve it.

Anyway I could reproduce this so I could test my script?

0 + 6

22.04

Archisman Panigrahi

8/30/24, 1:48 AM

It depends on what your script did. It is always safe to keep the default version.

guiverc

8/30/24, 3:04 AM

That file IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE for LTS releases, but is NOT EXPECTED TO CHANGE for non-LTS (there are exceptions here though; *artful* or 17.10 changed to 17.10.1 early in its cycle). Refer https://packages.ubuntu.com/jammy-updates/amd64/base-files/filelist where you'll note it's part of `base-files` where https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2023/08/11/ubuntu-22-04-3-lts-released/ shows the ISO release of 22.04.3, but installed systems upgraded in the week before ISO release (*as is normal though it can occur weeks too before*).

guiverc

8/30/24, 3:07 AM

https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/b/base-files/base-files_12ubuntu4.4/changelog shows the change(s) for 22.04 for that file... which occur for all *architectures* and not just *amd64* as per my prior comment's link (*filelist*)

waltinator

8/30/24, 3:09 AM

Make a change to `/etc/lsb-release`, and force reconfiguration of which ever package caused tge message. See `--reconfigure` in `man dpkg`.

Jeff Pang

8/30/24, 5:20 AM

@waltinator I modified `/etc/lsb-release` then ran `dpkg --configure -a`, however no prompt is shown

Marco

8/30/24, 5:42 AM

The package (in your case "base-files") is not unpacked on `dpkg --configure`, thus the file is not written, no detection.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: What cause ''/etc/lsb-release' modified? And how to reproduce it

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.