diff -u sympa-5.3.4/debian/postinst sympa-5.3.4/debian/postinst
--- sympa-5.3.4/debian/postinst
+++ sympa-5.3.4/debian/postinst
@@ -207,9 +207,8 @@
     if [ -f /usr/bin/openssl ]; then
 	if ! grep -q "^#-- S/MIME configuration" /etc/sympa/sympa.conf ; then
 	    db_get sympa/key_password
-	    key_password="$RET"
-
-	    sed -e "s/@KEY_PASSWORD@/$key_password/" \
+	    key_password="$RET" \
+	    perl -p -e 's/\@KEY_PASSWORD\@/$ENV{key_password}/' \
 	    /etc/sympa/sympa.conf-smime.in >>/etc/sympa/sympa.conf
 	    chown sympa:sympa /etc/sympa/sympa.conf
 	fi
@@ -481,7 +480,9 @@
 # The upgrade script figures out on its own
 # whether upgrade actions are necessary or not.
 
-/usr/lib/sympa/bin/sympa.pl --upgrade
+if [ $( awk '/^[\t ]*db_type[\t ]/ { a = 1 } /^[\t ]*db_name[\t ]/ { b = 1 }  END { print a+b }' /etc/sympa/sympa.conf) = 2 ] ; then
+    /usr/lib/sympa/bin/sympa.pl --upgrade
+fi
  
 ## End up with debconf
 db_stop
diff -u sympa-5.3.4/debian/changelog sympa-5.3.4/debian/changelog
--- sympa-5.3.4/debian/changelog
+++ sympa-5.3.4/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,19 @@
+sympa (5.3.4-6.1ubuntu1) intrepid; urgency=low
+
+  * Merge from Debian, remaining Ubuntu changes: (LP : #289053)
+    - debian/init: Verify presence of /var/run/sympa on startup.
+ 
+ -- Didier Roche <didrocks@ubuntu.com>  Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:22:53 +0200
+
+sympa (5.3.4-6.1) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * Non-maintainer upload.
+  * Fix password handling in debian/postinst. Closes: #501605
+  * Don't call sympa.pl --upgrade when no db_type/db_name is specified.
+    Needed for testing the above change.
+
+ -- Thomas Viehmann <tv@beamnet.de>  Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:08:14 +0200
+
 sympa (5.3.4-6ubuntu1) intrepid; urgency=low
 
   * Merge from Debian unstable, remaining Ubuntu changes: