.deb Upgrade Fails File Overwrite

SYMPTOM

Upgrading the ElastiFlow Unified Flow Collector to the latest version on Debian-based distributions, e.g. Ubuntu, reports an error trying to overwrite a file. For example, in some cases, it cannot overwrite /etc/elastiflow/app/appid.yml.

PROBLEM

The existing installation of the flow collector contains file(s) that have changed, and the Debian upgrade command will not automatically overwrite the file(s). Sometimes, these files are package files and can be safely overwritten. In other cases, the file or files contain user-defined data or parameters, and a backup of the file must be restored after the upgrade.

SOLUTION

1. Backup your /etc/elastiflow directory.

2. Use --force-overwrite when running the install command.