Re-creating conf files in debian or “How I ‘apt-get remove –purge apache2′d and broke my server”

The reason you have to use
dpkg –force-confmiss is because whenever your config files (<conffiles>) are gone, dpkg
assumes you deleted them on purpose, and that you want them to stay deleted. You can also
reinstall them using the following apt-get line: apt-get -o
DPkg::Options::=”–force-confmiss” –reinstall install <packagename>; or using aptitude,
aptitude -o DPkg::Options::=”–force-confmiss” reinstall <packagename>;