ubuntu 8.04.1: sympa-5.3.4-2ubuntu2 package install for pgsql fails

Binary package hint: sympa

I'm using pgsql 8.3.3 right now. pg_hba.conf is set to let anyone log in on 192.x.x.x or 127.x.x.x over tcp/ip, the addresses my laptop routinely have handy.

When trying to install sympa for pgsql there are several failures, most pretty simple.

The first one is that it assumes that libdbd-pg-perl is already installed when it isn't. Uninstalled the failed sympa install, installed the libdbd-pg-perl and tried again. This time, if I chose a host other than localhost it didn't ask me for any user passwords for sympa or pg's admin user. Install failed with this error message:

Setting up sympa (5.3.4-2ubuntu2) ...
Unknown database_type
dpkg: error processing sympa (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 sympa
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Setting up sympa (5.3.4-2ubuntu2) ...
Unknown database_type
dpkg: error processing sympa (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 sympa

I have a feeling that the unknown database type means something else... Like it can't connect properly. So, I uninstall and try again, this time using localhost... Now I get this much longer error message:

Upgrade::probe_db() Table user_table not found in database sympa
Upgrade::probe_db() Table subscriber_table not found in database sympa
Upgrade::probe_db() Table admin_table not found in database sympa
DBD::Pg::db do failed: ERROR: permission denied to create database
Upgrade::probe_db() Failed to run script '/usr/lib/sympa/bin/create_db.Pg' : ERROR: permission denied to create database

DBD::Pg::st execute failed: ERROR: relation "user_table" does not exist
List::get_user_db() Unable to execute SQL statement "SELECT email_user AS email, gecos_user AS gecos, password_user AS password, cookie_delay_user AS cookie_delay, lang_user AS lang , attributes_user AS attributes FROM user_table WHERE email_user = 'listmaster@abasin' " : ERROR: relation "user_table" does not exist

Language::SetLang() Language::SetLang(), missing locale parameter
Database sympa defined in sympa.conf has not the right structure or is unreachable. If you don't use any database, comment db_xxx parameters in sympa.conf
Sympa failed to prepare database.
dpkg: error processing sympa (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 sympa
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Setting up sympa (5.3.4-2ubuntu2) ...
DBD::Pg::db do failed: ERROR: database "sympa" already exists
Failed to create database sympa: DBD::Pg::db do failed: ERROR: database "sympa" already exists

So, first it complains it doesn't have permission to create the database, then it can't set the encoding, now it claims failure trying to create the database because it already exists. Output of \du shows:

smarlowe=> \du
                               List of roles
 Role name | Superuser | Create role | Create DB | Connections | Member of
-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+-----------
 postgres | yes | yes | yes | no limit | {}
 smarlowe | yes | no | no | no limit | {}
 sympa | no | no | no | no limit | {}

So, no it doesn't have permission to create a database. OK, so I leave the database in place, since it now exists, and run the script /usr/lib/sympa/bin/create_db.Pg by hand, and it looks like it might work. I'll report back. I haven't had a chance to see if this will let sympa actually run yet, just reporting the bug in the packaging.

 If you need a testbed running ubuntu 8.04 and pgsql 8.3.x I'm more than willing to lend some time. Anything to keep me from having to run MySQL really.